Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Capturing Covid 19....

            We are living, and hopefully surviving, a very strange period. Something the that will mark down 2020 as a year for the history books. The personal and financial trauma of Covid 19 is not over yet and while we are all hopeful that it will be resolved as result of the measures that governments and populations around the world have taken to isolate, we have to be aware that until an effective vaccine is developed, we could experience serious & potentially deadly flareups. It has always been easy as John Q. Citizen to barrack the policy makers and political leaders from the sidelines with criticisms sans the need to offer any real alternative suggestions. I have to admit that I have been very impressed with the quality of  various national crisis managements and the ability of political competitors to suppress their natural inclinations to score cheap points and, in general, to pull together for the common good.
              With all that said, I decided to walk the neighbourhood to try and capture evidence photographically, something of this great 2020 Covid 19 event before it dissipates. Already the (Canadian) government, as are others, are beginning to relax some of the most stringent epidemic lock-down regulations and I am sensing that vehicular and pedestrian street traffic is slowly, very slowly, returning to more normal levels.
                       I live near a major hospital and from just observing from the front exterior it is clear that major changes have been enacted so that it can function effectively in the Covid world. All  hospital entrances are controlled by security guards who efficiently turn away unnecessary visitors and limit access only to those unfortunate enough to require services. I noted all the masks and gloves that litter the grounds of the public areas around the hospital. I find it very difficult to understand the mentality it requires to jettison (infected?) safety gear so haphazardly and without thought for folks who eventually have the job to pickup this discarded rubbish.
       On the hospital lawn some one, some organization, has erected a memorial area of uniform small white crosses commemorating local victims of Covids. With two large old folks residences abutting the hospital, I can only guess whom the crosses mark. A nice touch--- while I was stooped down trying for an interesting angle, I was joined by a video photographer from a local TV network clearly working on a project along similar lines.
This city, with so much superficial wealth, has many citizens who are clearly having major difficulty feeding themselves & their families.
               The Canadian national unemployment has shot up from a low 4 to 14% + in the space of just 8 weeks. Much of the poverty in this city is hidden away behind the walls of smart condo apartments and the estates of private family homes. My photo above depicts a food table that appeared and note that just half an hour later when I returned, the table was bare.

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