Toronto’s hipster community finds itself among the ranks of world-renowned COVID-iots, as the COVID-insufferably-self-righteous like to call them, thanks to a weekend get-together: Trinity-Bellwoods Park, in the city’s shabby-chic Queen West neighbourhood, was full of young men and women behaving scandalously. The camera can play tricks with perspective, and I have seen no census of the attendees, but certainly more than a few people not of the same household were conducting conversations at less than two-metres’ distance. Few if any appeared to be wearing masks, not that they’re required to.
They will find no defence here, exactly. But I don’t share the outrage, and I don’t think the outrage is properly aimed.
Human beings need to get outside and socialize. They have breaking points, and many are very understandably at them. (An aside: I can’t help noticing how many people venting fury on social media have also treated their followers to images of their back-patio office setups, or updates on their new vegetable gardens.) There is also no surplus of parkland in downtown Toronto. Photographic evidence suggests other neighbourhood greenspaces were very busy as well, though not to the same extent.
In other words, this was always going to happen. So the time is long past when politicians like Ontario Premier Doug Ford or Toronto Mayor John Tory should be able to cluck their tongues or stamp their feet at such people and expect their constituents to nod along in solidarity.
[Interesting Read]
See Also:
(3) Social media erupts as thousands pictured at Toronto’s Trinity Bellwoods park
(4) There will be ‘lessons learned’ from situation at Trinity Bellwoods Park, Toronto mayor says
(5) The CDC’s New ‘Best Estimate’ Implies a COVID-19 Infection Fatality Rate Below 0.3%
