In recent days, with varying degrees of subtlety, political cartoonists have been comparing the massive global anti-coronavirus campaign to the Second World War. Some of their work makes you wonder why anyone bothers printing it: Frontline medical workers are the Allies; COVID-19 is Hitler; zero insight provided. Some, however, more usefully keys in on the weirdness of the duty that so many of us are being called on to do: Stay home. That’s it.
I certainly would not trade what I’m being asked to do for, say, hurtling outmoded biplanes around Northern Europe in the early 1940s — which is what my grandfather signed up for 80 years ago. But as Canadian cities clamp down more and more on their citizens’ freedoms — padlocking sports fields, barricading parking lots at popular recreation spots, threatening arrest for those who perambulate recklessly — I feel like we’re in danger of underestimating just what’s being asked of many Canadians. “We’re all in this together,” I keep hearing. But “this” isn’t remotely the same for everyone who’s in it.
I am employed. I have everything I need in my apartment. I don’t have so much as a dog to walk, never mind kids to keep from going feral. I am not complaining. But that apartment comprises 500 square feet, and two wee windows. When I think about holing up here until July — a timeline Canadian politicians are unwilling to dismiss, and that may prove optimistic — it fills me with nothing short of genuine dread.
I would kill just to have access to a desk somewhere else, or the balcony I had in my previous apartment, never mind the semi-detached house I grew up in in Midtown Toronto that’s probably worth $2 million right now. I know how it would feel to ride this thing out on Heath Street East — barbecuing every night, chatting safely with neighbours over the fence — as opposed to in apartment 301. It’s night and day.
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See Also:
(1) RCMP rescind Calgary-area teen’s $1,200 fine for not practising physical distancing in vehicle
(2) Living in a 700-odd square foot apartment while in quarantine. I’m not alone
(3) Patty Hajdu’s China Syndrome
(4) How do you self-isolate without a home?
(5) Canadians will soon need to have a serious conversation about Plan B
