Coquitlam’s mayor is calling on residents to recommit to physical distancing after he witnessed several incidents of lackadaisical viral etiquette.
In a July 16 blog post shared on Facebook under the banner “No, seriously, we can’t be complacent,” Mayor Richard Stewart expressed concern for people ignoring directional arrows in supermarket aisles, avoiding standing behind plexiglass at the checkout and in one case, of him being the only person in a SkyTrain car wearing a mask “despite the urging of TransLink and health officials.”
Stewart's call comes the same week the province saw a bump in the number of COVID-19 — 62 over the weekend — and led Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry to warn 25 cases a day was "distressing" and "cautionary to us." And while not unexpected due to the increase travel and social interaction of the phase 3 reopening, she said "That's way above my comfort zone."
Stewart pointed to the relative openness of British Columbians’ public life this summer, and how in other parts of North America, “the ability to visit local parks and to be a tourist in our own community” was only made possible “because most of us did what was necessary in April, May and June.”
Still, some people deny the seriousness of the pandemic, wrote Stewart, pointing to a recent call to the mayor’s office of someone not “sure about all this hype” because she doesn’t know anyone who got sick.
One of the mayor’s biggest gripes was people insisting on shaking his hand, something he said has happened “dozens of times” and on Thursday left him backing up at Town Centre Park “almost tripping over my bike in the process.”
“This isn’t being rude, this is the new ‘polite,’” he wrote.
“I feel like we were better at this back in April,” he added.
“The SARS-CoV-2 virus is still out there, in our community and across the province; let’s not give it a chance. It has killed people in our community, and will certainly kill more in the coming months.”
