Montreal Youth Defy COVID-19 Curfew and Damage Property
When claims of freedom blind us of their potentially insular nature
Protests against COVID-19 policies have persisted throughout the pandemic. I can understand wanting life to be back to normal, visiting friends and family, and doing something as basic as going to a restaurant with my wife. As a physician, I am disturbed that such protests often perpetuate falsehoods about the pandemic, such as it not being real, it being no worse than the flu, and the number of dead is inflated or similar compared to other years. I find the last the most egregious as it suggests that all of those we have lost did not matter.
I have been incredibly impressed by Canadian policy in strictly enforcing COVID-controlling measures. It is extremely annoying to be mandated to quarantine for two weeks when returning to Canada after visiting my wife, needing to take COVID tests before I arrive, on arrival, and ten days into quarantine, and not being permitted even to take out my trash. Strict definitions of what is permissible are what is needed to remove any ambiguity. Phone calls during the quarantine, ensuring that I am obeying public health measures, and being held legally responsible if I infect another person are good motivators for respecting the pandemic.
