On November 20th Toronto and Peel regions went into lockdown. The majority of the rest of Ontario went into the ever-alarming Red Zone. However, entering the Red Zone differs drastically from being in lockdown, so what does this mean for areas that aren’t currently in a strict lockdown? These are areas that did not experience such new harsh regulations because their Covid cases are relatively low.
York region, for example, which is still open and bustling with people and open stores sees Covid cases averaging between 100-200 per day. This is by no means a good number, however, in comparison to areas like Toronto and Peel with cases exploding above 300, and sometimes even hitting 500 daily cases, it means that our efforts and frequented areas don’t need to be so strictly monitored.
Nevertheless, we are nearing the busy holiday season with malls still open and case counts gradually increasing. Black Friday is upon us and nearly all stores have been hitting capacity. With Scarborough Town Center closed, Eaton Center closed, Fairview Mall closed, and Yorkdale mostly closed, that leaves only two options for anxious holiday shoppers: online shopping OR travelling up to malls in the York region and beyond.
What does this mean?
This means with Toronto and Peel in lockdown, the inevitable is happening. Those from densely populated lockdown areas are coming in and plaguing our malls, our superstores, and our open facilities, and leading us into an imminent shut down as well. Perhaps the lockdown should have been stretched province-wide. Or maybe malls and other shopping centers should have accurately monitored restrictions of people entering into them.
What is happening right now is just not working and we are going to watch local stores close forever because of it.
Most local areas in the York, Durham, Hamilton, Halton, and Waterloo regions are not highly populated in comparison to Toronto and Peel. Small businesses get little attention whether there is a pandemic happening or not. Main Street Markham, Main Street Stouffville, and Main Street Unionville are but a few areas that have boutiques and restaurants and other small stores that are desperately in need of customers. Driving past some of these stores that many have grown up with, there are for lease signs and boarded up windows in the very places people used to go for their weekly coffees or even where they bought their wedding dresses. A second lockdown reaching these outer regions means that most of these stores that hardly had any foot traffic, to begin with unfortunately will never be able to open up their doors again.
A lockdown is an effective method in stopping virus spread, but when a lockdown is applied to areas that are a 30-minute drive away from non-lockdown areas, its effectiveness plummets. People from lockdown areas wanting to get their holiday shopping done in person instead of online are unfortunately coming to our areas and with that bringing virus spread. In turn, this leads to the infection of employees, which then affects their families in their homes, which then leads to a spike in Covid cases, which then leads to us in a lockdown saying goodbye to our local restaurants, and local hair salons, not just for 28 days but forever.
Government health officials are frequenting local stores and issuing fines to workers and companies. But where’s the accountability for the customers? Fines should be issued to those who misbehave in stores, who breach social distancing rules, and who put employee’s lives at risk. You cannot blame the employees and potentially fine them when it is oftentimes the behaviour of the customer that initiates this breach of a rule.
This is not to say that all companies and employees are taking the necessary precautions, as of course, this is not true. But I think a lot of them are doing their very best and need to stay open to keep their families fed and their rent paid.
While there is no concrete rule that people should not be exiting their areas when they are in lockdown, it has in fact been highly advised to follow this mentality. There are even rumours of stores up north checking IDs to ensure that people really live in the region they wish to shop. Albeit, even if this is true it is invasive and counterintuitive, as many stores that are on their last legs will not refuse customers since they need them the most right now.
I cannot provide a solution to this issue. I can only provide my opinion whether correct or incorrect. Entering into further lockdown is ruining our economy, putting people out of work, and destroying local businesses. Nonetheless, ignoring lockdown can take lives, ruin families, and keep us stagnant with Covid cases rising and no end in sight. There is no answer here that makes anyone happy. Our local businesses need our help and support, for which they are not even able to ask when their region is closed to all non-essential work. But this means that those areas in lockdown should be more regulated, with more monitoring and clarity when it comes to understanding the etiquette for leaving areas in lockdown, to keep other areas from entering into lockdown as well.
My only advice is that as we near this holiday season we say thank you to the cashiers and salespeople who help us and keep us safe. Whether you are from a lockdown area or not, they are serving you to the best of their ability despite the risk it poses for them. And remember that the best gift of all is the safety and health of those you love and care for.