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We’re entering a tough new phase of the pandemic where it’s not particularly clear what we can and can’t do.
That the government has been “quite authoritarian” in how it managed the pandemic until recently “is not a problem in and of itself,” said Simon Bacon, a professor of health, kinesiology and applied physiology at Concordia University. “But what they have not done alongside that is provide the information to allow people to make decisions. They haven’t explained the rationale, the benefits. They have conditioned everybody just to react.”
All along there has been “a lack of engagement from government,” and in the process, it has “sort of taken away people’s sense of responsibility,” he said. In Quebec, “the talk has all been about getting everyone vaccinated — and COVID is over. This isn’t really what is going to happen, or is happening now,” said Bacon.