On Friday, Ontario premier, Doug Ford, announced a set of strict measures which included the closure of playgrounds, golf courses and allowing police to ask people outside why they’re out there (and for their addresses). After local police forces said they refused to question random people, several measures were rolled back, including closing of playgrounds. For now, golf is still closed. Infection rates are getting high within the province (we’re talking 4,000s) and people who’re eligible by age are refusing to take AstraZeneca because of the risks. If more 55+ (40+ – UPDATE: ONTARIO IS LOWERING ASTRAZENECA’S AGE MINIMUM TO 40!) people get Astra (and it’s easy to register for these since they’re at the pharmacy) then there’d be more slots for younger people to get Pfizer or Moderna at clinics. Easy as that.
I worry about kids. School is remote again, and likely for the rest of the academic year. Ontario teachers who aren’t in high risk areas or working with kids with special needs aren’t getting vaccinated yet to my understanding. So nope, school’s done until September. At least by then, teachers will be vaccinated. Kids won’t be eligible until next year. However, the fact that they’re trapped at home, unable to see peers. It’s not that great for them from a mental health perspective. We’re a social animal and interaction with others, REAL interaction and not just seeing people on a screen is very necessary. However, due to stigmatization of mental health, some families, particularly those from cultures where mental health is even MORE stigmatized, consider PHYSICAL health to be even MORE important, and, thus, are less furious at the fact remote school is on. Sad, but true. I have heard it from my cultural community. Am I mad at them? F***ing YES. I’ve had people criticize me for even THINKING about sending Jr. Mintz to in-person preschool in September. It’s ONLY APRIL, people! Who knows what things will be like in SEPTEMBER?
I also worry about older people who live on their own (either with a spouse or by themselves) and are having difficulty registering for a vaccine and people with disabilities who don’t drive, and can’t get to centres to get their shots. They certainly aren’t risking it by taking a cab, transit or Uber/Lyft. And those who are linguistically challenged? Good luck. Many don’t ask for help because they do not want to appear weak. It might be cultural or it could just be personality. What we REALLY need are more mobile clinics and notification ahead of time that said clinics are going to be in the area. We also need to offer workplace vaccination clinics, especially at fulfillment centres, factories and other places employees work cannot work from home. Opening slots for people who live in certain neighbourhoods isn’t good enough, especially if these areas are mixed income/education (for example, the neighbourhood I spent part of my childhood in uses M2M as the first three characters of its postal code. M2M is considered a “hot zone.” However, there’s no way the street I lived in is a “hot zone” when homes are large enough to easily self isolate if needed, and is solidly middle class. “Essential workers” on that street are teachers and medical professionals, not factory employees and grocery store clerks. Who are the people who’ll be registering? That’s right, people from that neighbourhood, due to their education and the likelihood of having jobs where they can work from home. However, I’m not sure if I can say they’re taking advantage of the fact they’re can be vaccinated. Everyone wants the vaccine.
Meanwhile, I suppose we just have to deal. Find ways to destress. This could be just turning off social media, since everything on it is either about the pandemic (always criticizing, of course. And why wouldn’t you? All three levels of government are handling it very badly) or hate in this world. And the latter on how to handle hate only comes from one or two perspectives, never taking into consideration that hate can come from EVERY F**KING COMMUNITY. Because we ALL HAVE OUR BIASES, so please stop FOCUSING ONLY ON SYSTEMIC DISCRIMINATION. And how are we supposed to learn from each other if we CAN’T SEE EACH OTHER? Virtual isn’t good enough. There are very few diversity/equity discussion groups where I can feel “safe” in because they don’t find that my perspectives fit the “narrative” of people from my culture or anyone who is a child of immigrants. I’ll just leave it there as the post is about the pandemic.
That said, I’m still baking, especially kefir soda bread on a weekly basis, which has helped me for the last year. I’ve also used a version of the recipe to make savoury hot cross buns for Easter (turned out disastrous, but only because I don’t own pastry bags and wasn’t able to make proper-looking crosses with a freezer bag with a hole) and two ingredient oatmeal cookies (mashed banana and quick cook oats). I probably should be baking a bit more if I had time. I haven’t recorded a new episode of the podcast (the show’s creator recently had a baby), but that’s not what has been keeping me busy. However, I AM getting more involved with philanthropy-related projects, which I’ll discuss at a later time. Working on projects such as these ones are helping me mentally speaking as it takes me away from thinking about the pandemic and other issues going on in the world not related to what I’m doing. It’s all good. And I’m looking forward to delving deeper into them.
