By Parry-Sound Muskoka MP Scott Aitchison
As I write this column, I hope that you and your family are safe and well. I am also seeing hopeful signs that we are slowly but surely getting through this COVID-19 pandemic.
I urge everyone to stay the course and continue to follow the guidance of provincial and federal health experts. We will get through this. I also hope that when we do get through this global pandemic, we will become more united as a community, and a country.
I am worried about the simmering divisions happening here in Parry Sound-Muskoka right now. Fear and anxiety have exposed resentment between many who live here seasonally and many who live here permanently.
To be clear, I am not advocating a wholesale return to life as normal too early. I have also encouraged everyone to heed the advice of officials to physically distance and self-isolate when appropriate.
All residents of Parry Sound-Muskoka—seasonal and permanent—are residents. We have a mutually beneficial and interdependent relationship that has helped to make our area prosper socially, culturally, and financially.
I know that the vast majority of all residents are doing their part to follow COVID-19 guidelines. There is no doubt that a few residents—seasonal and permanent—have not been as conscientious about physical distancing practice, but this is absolutely no reason to generalize about any group.
For those seasonal residents staying at your Parry Sound or Muskoka home—stay there! Please don’t be of the belief it is business as usual however. You all contribute so much to the community and I hope you will continue to contribute now by staying home—whichever home that is.
For those permanent residents, please know that residents who have more than one home are no less important to our community than anyone else. For many seasonal residents, the ‘cottage’ is often the one true family home—the one home that through generations has been the place where they have always gathered at to connect and build lasting family memories.
I know that many seasonal residents appreciate the support of local businesses and neighbours to help them maintain their family homes.
We rely on each other and we will continue to rely on each other. Don’t let fear and anxiety destroy a relationship that has helped create a sense of community which is the envy of so many other regions of Ontario.
I am reminded of a sermon from years ago delivered by Pastor Darrel Baker at Faith Baptist Church. He was speaking on the Golden Rule. He shared many examples and stories to illustrate the power of this simple message. In the end, he paused for a moment and as if off script he simply summed his message up this way: “just be nice”. He shrugged his shoulders a little and quietly concluded, “just…be…nice”.
A powerful message that I try to remember every day.
We all need to be kind to each other. We will get through this together and soon get back to the work of building a more vibrant, resilient and prosperous community.
(Photo of Parliament Hill by festivio on Pixabay. Photo of Scott Aitchison courtesy of Scott Aitchison.)
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Hugh Holland says
Well said Scott.
Laurie christie says
Well said Scott.
And thank you to your amazing staff that helped bring people back from all over the word to return home to Muskoka. We are so lucky to be Canadians.
I believed that our cottagers are part of our community. It’s just important to pick a home. We all need to be supportive and help one another out. Sadly I am a witnessing a few local and cottagers not adhering to the advice and this is disturbing. Some people say well I’m healthy I would survive. As a critical care nurse of many years I say to them. You may survive however you may suffer from other tragic events that present when suffering this virus. The raging fever ,inflammation can cause the body to throw emboli to the brain, lungs,heart. You might have to wear a diaper or be fed and drool. What are you going to tell your friends, family or neighbors that you pass this disease onto because you haven’t been prudent. Do you know your neighbours medical history. Are they on medication that lowers their estrogen for breast cancer, thereby making them more vulnerable. Do they have any immunodeficiencies ,hear, lung problems, Parkinson’s,mental health issues.
All I want is for people to have no regrets. To say I did my best and I thought of my community. Yes it’s been somewhat difficult. I haven’t had a meal with anyone for more than two months. I’m no longer blonde. I could really use a makeover.But it has been a golden opportunity to learn new things. And really if that’s the most I suffer I’m lucky.
Laurie Christie
Erin Jones says
Thank you, Laurie. Well said. It’s all about being kind to others. We never know what burdens they bear. That couple you see, may have a child with asthma or one on chemo. Someone could have two parents, on waiting lists for long term care, and simply cannot afford to get sick. We are fortunate to live in a country whose citizens are known the world over for their kindness, courtesy and mutual respect.
If nothing else, this crisis has caused us to sit back and quietly ruminate on what trends we want to see develop for the future of our society. A rude shoving aside of others, in a frantic chase after “just one more dollar” is foreign to us and is antithetical to the Christian values that are the bedrock of the Canadian consciousness. Cooperation and looking out for others is part of our national character. Long may it live, as character always goes the distance. As we sail through the “Digital Age,” awash in the overwhelming tide of information, retaining our wits and integrity is the mast to which we cling. What we are experiencing now is nothing new–the probable destruction of one culture and the rise of another. In the past, it seems to have always caused a return to the eternal verities that, in the end, preserve us and promote the new, more positive culture taking shape.
Erin Jones says
Thanks for the encouragement, Scott!
Ian Mackay says
Great note Scott. Now here’s an idea for reopenig (New York Times, from Israeli scienists):
Opinion
10-4: How to Reopen the Economy by Exploiting the Coronavirus’s Weak Spot
People can work in two-week cycles, on the job for four days then, by the time they might become infectious, 10 days at home in lockdown.
By Uri Alon, Ron Milo and Eran Yashiv
Mr. Alon and Mr. Milo are professors of computational and systems biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Mr. Yashiv is a professor of economics at Tel Aviv University and at the London School of Economics Center for Macroeconomics.
May 11, 2020
A vendor at a market in Tel Aviv last week, after some restrictions to protect against the coronavirus have been eased around Israel. Models created at the country’s Weizmann Institute predict a special two-week work cycle would reduce the virus’s reproduction number.
A vendor at a market in Tel Aviv last week, after some restrictions to protect against the coronavirus have been eased around Israel. Models created at the country’s Weizmann Institute predict a special two-week work cycle would reduce the virus’s reproduction number.Credit…Amir Cohen/Reuters
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If we cannot resume economic activity without causing a resurgence of Covid-19 infections, we face a grim, unpredictable future of opening and closing schools and businesses.
We can find a way out of this dilemma by exploiting a key property of the virus: its latent period — the three-day delay on average between the time a person is infected and the time he or she can infect others.
People can work in two-week cycles, on the job for four days then, by the time they might become infectious, 10 days at home in lockdown. The strategy works even better when the population is split into two groups of households working alternating weeks.
Austrian school officials will adopt a simple version — with two groups of students attending school for five days every two weeks — starting May 18.
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Models we created at the Weizmann Institute in Israel predict that this two-week cycle can reduce the virus’s reproduction number — the average number of people infected by each infected person — below one. So a 10-4 cycle could suppress the epidemic while allowing sustainable economic activity.
Even if someone is infected, and without symptoms, he or she would be in contact with people outside their household for only four days every two weeks, not 10 days, as with a normal schedule. This strategy packs another punch: It reduces the density of people at work and school, thus curtailing the transmission of the virus.
Schools could have students attend for four consecutive days every two weeks, in two alternating groups, and use distance-learning methods on the other school days. Children would go to school on the same days as their parents go to work.
Businesses would work almost continuously, alternating between two groups of workers, for regular and predictable production. This would increase consumer confidence, shoring up supply and demand simultaneously.
During lockdown days, this approach requires adherence only to the level of distancing already being demonstrated in European countries and New York City. It prevents the economic and psychological costs of opening the economy and then having to reinstate complete lockdown when cases inevitably resurge. Giving hope and then taking it away can cause despair and resistance.
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A 10-4 routine provides at least part-time employment for millions who have been fired or sent on leave without pay. These jobs prevent the devastating, and often long-lasting, mental and physical impacts of unemployment. For those living on cash, there would be four days to make a living, reducing the economic necessity to disregard lockdown altogether. Business bankruptcies would also be reduced, speeding up eventual economic recovery.
The cyclic strategy is easy to explain and to enforce. It is equitable in terms of who gets to go back to work. It applies at any scale: a school, a firm, a town, a state. A region that uses the cyclic strategy is protected: Infections coming from the outside cannot spread widely if the reproduction number is less than one. It is also compatible with all other countermeasures being developed.
Workers can, and should still, use masks and distancing while at work. This proposal is not predicated, however, on large-scale testing, which is not yet available everywhere in the United States and may never be available in large parts of the world. It can be started as soon as a steady decline of cases indicates that lockdown has been effective.
The cyclic strategy should be part of a comprehensive exit strategy, including self-quarantine by those with symptoms, contact tracing and isolation, and protection of risk groups. The cyclic strategy can be tested in limited regions for specific trial periods, even a month. If infections rates grow, it can be adjusted to fewer work days. Conversely, if things are going well, additional work days can be added. In certain scenarios, only four or five lockdown days in each two-week cycle could still prevent resurgence.
The coronavirus epidemic is a formidable foe, but it is not unbeatable. By scheduling our activities intelligently, in a way that accounts for the virus’s intrinsic dynamics, we can defeat it more rapidly, and accelerate a full return to work, school and other activities.
Uri Alon and Ron Milo are professors of computational and systems biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Eran Yashiv is a professor of economics at Tel Aviv University and at the London School of Economics Center for Macroeconomics.
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Uri Alon is a professor of computational and systems biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
Ron Milo is a professor of computational and systems biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
Bob Mace says
It’s way to early for opening the gates, all these cottagers coming up for the weekend (May 2’ 4’ ) are just going to spread it. To what was are hidden community.