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OUR VIEW: Surrey, be COVID-19 wise

Now’s especially not the time for careless, unwise behaviour
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Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry updates COVID-19 situation in B.C. (B.C. government)

The province’s chief health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, warned this week that we’re living “on the edge” as she noted the number of new COVID-19 cases have put B.C. at risk of “explosive growth.”

For many weeks now, any British Columbian who reads newspapers, has a computer, or has a television or radio, is well aware of the catastrophe unfolding in the United States resulting from the many, many bad choices that have been made south of the border related to the pandemic.

So far, Canadians have been fortunate in comparison. And yet, astonishingly, some of our compatriots’ carefree approach, or even denial of, this significant public health threat suggests they’d be OK to close ranks with the disaster our American brothers and sisters are currently experiencing.

READ ALSO: ‘We’re on the edge’: B.C. records 102 new COVID-19 cases, no new deaths since Friday

Two groups have emerged here in B.C.

There are those safety-conscious people who wear masks, practice social distancing, wash their hands religiously and clearly have a healthy respect for the damage that nature, even at the microscopic level, can wreak upon a population.

And then there are those, whose ranks are legion, who seem to think they are living in a parallel dimension, oblivious to the threat this deadly virus poses, not only to themselves but to other flesh-and-blood people they could potentially infect.

They invade people’s space at grocery stores, some of them throwing askance glances of derision at those wearing face masks, as though it is the mask-wearers who are the idiots. They gather like sardines on local beaches, and sit elbow-to-elbow at local bars.

Clearly, we have a finite window here to get this right.

What team are you on?

You must choose wisely, and choose now.

Now-Leader



edit@surreynowleader.com

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