Everything All At Once
Mar. 5th, 2020 01:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mousmeIt's been a busy time.
Work has been slammed by the simultaneous coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, and the protests and blockades taking place all across Canada against the installation of an oil pipeline on unceded Wet'suwet'en territory by Coastal GasLink. The latter has been incredibly frustrating for me, because, well, you can imagine that the RCMP members aren't exactly pro-Indigenous in their thinking. There is a lot of racist talk subtly camouflaged beneath a veneer of political correctness (the bad kind of political correctness), and it's exhausting. Luckily it's mostly not the people in my immediate office, so at least I don't have to argue with people all day longl
The COVID-19 business is so weird. I remember the SARS crisis from 2003 (also related to a coronavirus), and given what we know--that COVID-19 is a lot more contagious but less deadly--people seem to be divided between panic and indifference, when neither is a good reaction, really. The fact that the President of the US is spreading misinformation as fast as you can say "press release" isn't helping, either. Right now half the people are stocking up on whatever they think are "essentials," assuming all of society is going to shut down (it's not), and the other half are complaining that everyone is taking this way too seriously, that this is less serious than the 'flu (it is not), and that it's all an exaggeration.
The biggest problem is, basically, that there is too much information out of there, and a lot of it is inaccurate: either it's incomplete or downright misleading. So it's no wonder people don't know how to react appropriately. Contrary to when SARS hit, it feels like there's no solid plan in place to manage the spread of this virus, which is a lot more contagious than SARS and the 'flu. It also has been disproportionately affecting the elderly and immuno-compromised, and average people are taking that to mean that it's not a big deal. So you get a cough and stay home for two weeks, so what? Well, those few days you spent while you were asymptomatic, you probably spread it to dozens of people, and some of them will have elderly and/or ill family members. Anyway, I am super annoyed at the "Well, it's not really going to affect me, so why should I care?" attitude.
There's also the problem of unfettered capitalism. Basically all retail and food service employers have exploitative practices when it comes to their employees: very little or no paid sick leave, and the promise of losing your job if you miss even one day of work. So all those people are going to go to work sick: they're going to prepare and serve food, stock shelves, use the cash register. It's going to be even worse in the US, where people who are uninsured or underinsured will simply not be able to afford to go seek medical care.
Bleh. I am not impressed with society these days, not going to lie.
Next time I will post something cheerier, I promise. :)
Work has been slammed by the simultaneous coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, and the protests and blockades taking place all across Canada against the installation of an oil pipeline on unceded Wet'suwet'en territory by Coastal GasLink. The latter has been incredibly frustrating for me, because, well, you can imagine that the RCMP members aren't exactly pro-Indigenous in their thinking. There is a lot of racist talk subtly camouflaged beneath a veneer of political correctness (the bad kind of political correctness), and it's exhausting. Luckily it's mostly not the people in my immediate office, so at least I don't have to argue with people all day longl
The COVID-19 business is so weird. I remember the SARS crisis from 2003 (also related to a coronavirus), and given what we know--that COVID-19 is a lot more contagious but less deadly--people seem to be divided between panic and indifference, when neither is a good reaction, really. The fact that the President of the US is spreading misinformation as fast as you can say "press release" isn't helping, either. Right now half the people are stocking up on whatever they think are "essentials," assuming all of society is going to shut down (it's not), and the other half are complaining that everyone is taking this way too seriously, that this is less serious than the 'flu (it is not), and that it's all an exaggeration.
The biggest problem is, basically, that there is too much information out of there, and a lot of it is inaccurate: either it's incomplete or downright misleading. So it's no wonder people don't know how to react appropriately. Contrary to when SARS hit, it feels like there's no solid plan in place to manage the spread of this virus, which is a lot more contagious than SARS and the 'flu. It also has been disproportionately affecting the elderly and immuno-compromised, and average people are taking that to mean that it's not a big deal. So you get a cough and stay home for two weeks, so what? Well, those few days you spent while you were asymptomatic, you probably spread it to dozens of people, and some of them will have elderly and/or ill family members. Anyway, I am super annoyed at the "Well, it's not really going to affect me, so why should I care?" attitude.
There's also the problem of unfettered capitalism. Basically all retail and food service employers have exploitative practices when it comes to their employees: very little or no paid sick leave, and the promise of losing your job if you miss even one day of work. So all those people are going to go to work sick: they're going to prepare and serve food, stock shelves, use the cash register. It's going to be even worse in the US, where people who are uninsured or underinsured will simply not be able to afford to go seek medical care.
Bleh. I am not impressed with society these days, not going to lie.
Next time I will post something cheerier, I promise. :)
