EDITORIAL: Dealing with divided COVID-19 opinions
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The protests against lockdowns and public health measures in Canada began back in the spring. The events were sparsely attended and they brought out a collection of individuals with a grab bag of grievances.
Some people did offer reasonable opinions critiquing specific COVID-19 rules. Canada certainly had some bizarre enforcement around that time, like the story of a by-law officer who paid a visit to an Ottawa father who was playing alone with his autistic son in an empty park.
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But the protests also brought out quite a few individuals whose main criticism was to call the whole pandemic a hoax and offer elaborate conspiracy theories.
That was in the spring. Then, as the restrictions eased, the protests seemed to die down.
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Now, it appears they are flaring up again. But as the second wave of COVID-19 looks different from the first, it may be that a different crop of voices step forward to offer their dissent.
As politicians and public health officials mull over returning the public to a second series of lockdowns, it’s only inevitable people are going to step forward to offer their objections.
While this paper supports targeted rollbacks where proven necessary by the data, we do not at all support a return to the sort of widespread lockdowns Canada experienced in the spring.
Any officials suggesting such a thing should have to face a whole barrage of questions to justify what they’re proposing. It’s not enough anymore for the media and public to simply nod along in agreement with what we’re told.
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Canada’s governments are going to have to learn to deal with and incorporate the many divided opinions that people now have about COVID-19.
There are those who are already overly alarmed and want to see schools and workplaces shut down. Many people feel the exact opposite though, and want as many things kept open as possible.
We believe it’s important to protect the elderly and vulnerable while everyone else wears a mask and practices social distancing. The evidence suggests that course of action will serve us well.
Meanwhile, if the government wants to keep society reasonably united, they’ll have to leave space for all the wide range of opinions out there.
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