The Government of Ontario’s modelling, published today, estimates between 3,000 and 15,000 people in the province could be killed over the next two years. An estimated 100,000 people would have died had no action been taken. On our current track, 1,600 people may die this month, however, tighter controls can reduce that number to about…

The weapons and battlefields of the war on COVID-19.

Once a site for rest and repose, the park bench is now the site of up to a $100,000 fine for its use.

In a conversation on what the world might look like after the end of the COVID crisis, Gladwell offered several insights and points of view.  In answering the question what can we learn from this [crisis], he talked  about what makes a system successful; why are some successful and others fail? Gladwell referred to research into…

Last Friday marked our fourth week in quarantine. Over this period, we watched many things around us shut down. Among the first was our gym, and as a result, we shifted our exercise program to home. But as the weather improves, on those days when it is above freezing, I supplement my in-door program with…

We are well passed April 5th, the date that was once assumed to be when the schools would reopen; the date we assumed life would return to normal. The end in sight is behind us. Now there is no date. We are left in suspension. Hope is for the future; it cannot exist in the…

As the days go by, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish among them. They simply merge together into an incoherent blur.

The daily political transactions executed in response to the pandemic vary widely by country, but trying to estimate where it all goes, where it takes us is another story. Richard Haass submits that these events won’t reshape history, but rather they will accelerate existing trends. While it is not clear to me what the difference…

Both my grandmothers were preoccupied with having a clean home. This grip might have been cultural; it might have been that both were survivors of the 1918 pandemic; it might have been some combination of many things. Cleanliness has recently reestablished its importance as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, most publicly in the form…

Social distancing, as demanded by the novel coronavirus, has changed TV interviews from a largely in-person in-studio event to one mediated through video-conferencing technology with an interviewee often at home. As this practice developed from a novelty to the norm the nuances became more apparent: the attire of the interviewee was often more casual, the…

Our outings these days are purposeful and limited to just a few things: picking up the mail from our community mail box, conveniently located next door to our house, taking out the garbage once a week and grocery shopping every other week. Depending on the weather, we might take the dog for a walk and…

We try to keep it down to once every two weeks, although our son has gone out in the interlude to pick up some of the short-lived items, like fruits and vegetables. Our first grocery shopping experience during the quarantine was with Loblaws when we ordered on-line for pickup. At that time the pickup date…

I recall working for a fellow in the early 1980s. He was nearing retirement. He could have been a war veteran; he had that 1940s look; the stature and moustache. To me he looked like a general. He said he lamented so many women going to work, rather than staying home. His point of view…

Many things are opaque, leaving how and why they work unclear at best. Why, for example, has the US stock market recovered nearly 20% in the last month even though we remain under the cloud of a pandemic with no clear end in sight, the economy is shut down put into a coma, tens of…

In the last week or so, I feel my mood has improved. The anticipation of reaching the end of the current phase of the pandemic — the lock down — has flowered into being witness to the tangible activities of things opening up. The earlier period was marked by frustration, the understanding that the lock…

A new day brings new challenges, opportunities and joys. Excitement spawns from each of these ingredients. The magnolia is a couple weeks late blooming this year. Might it be due to the colder than usual weather? The pandemic? Better late than never.

The other day I received our monthly statement for the 407 ETR (toll highway). The amount due was $0.00. To put that number into context, over the last 14 months our average monthly bill has been $108.27. A bill of $0.00 may not be surprising, but it is an indicator of broader implications. Over the…

In order to get a building permit to proceed with some work on our house, the city asked that we protect the trees in the backyard. So we built a tree-protection fence that separated the work area from the area that is treed. It is now 9 months since erected, and our work completed last…

I have renamed our sunroom the Coronaroom. In deference to the words of the Supreme Leader, the Stable Genius, I have come to see our sunroom as a place of healing. Bathed in the golden rays of sunshine, I fend off the scourge of the evil virus.

At 5:30AM on March 12, last year, we landed at Pearson (YYZ) and disembarked Air Canada flight 1807 from San José, Costa Rica. The following day, Friday March 13th, we went to Costco, stocked up on food, and entered into voluntary quarantine. Over the last year, that initial quarantine has been relaxed slightly to a…