It’s getting rather exhausting trying to digest and understand all the information and decisions coming out about the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.
Only days ago, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry was saying people should get outdoors, enjoy shopping and restaurants and just limit gatherings to groups of 250 or less. During this time, places like Costco were bursting with panic buyers that far exceeded the prescribed numbers who might have attended a sporting, theatre or other community event.
The tune has since changed to groups of 50 or less. A few events were cancelled initially to stay within the guidelines, but everything has basically shut down now.
It seems putting any kind of number on a gathering now is a moot point.
The turning point in all this seemed to happen when National Basketball Association player Rudy Gobert tested positive. The dominoes fell after that, led by professional sporting organizations and then encompassing all sports, entertainment and just about any other event down to the community level.
So where do we go from here? That is the million dollar question and millions of dollars - probably more like billions - are going to be lost to the Canadian and world economy.
Everything has basically gone in the tank at the same time and we don’t know for how long so the recovery process later is going to be that much more difficult for the economy.
In the meantime, all we can do is follow the advice of professionals and medical experts. Social distancing, coughing into your elbow, hand washing and staying at home when sick seem to be the recurring messages.
The ugly side of human nature that has evolved during this time is also distressing. Buying up cartloads of meat and enough toilet paper to last a century just doesn’t make sense.
No one has ever said there’d be a shortage of manufacturing or producing these items. There might be now with some of the hoarding going on.
At some point, life will return to normal but what will that look like? Some distinct changes are sure to emerge from this pandemic and some will be self-inflicted by humans.