For the duration of UFV’s partial shutdown, The Cascade will be moving entirely online.Â
UFV has temporarily shut down all classes and will be resuming them remotely starting March 23. Although the university campuses will still remain open, at least for now, there will likely be few people on campus. Printing physical newspapers would have brought a number of our staff onto the campus during a time when people shouldn’t be there, including our distribution team, those who deliver the paper, and our production team.Â
This decision was not just made because editing in our pajamas at home is our deepest and most secretive desire — it is, but that’s not the point. We are taking the recommendations of the province and local health authorities seriously because members of our staff, their families, and the community have health concerns that make them at risk of complications and death from COVID-19.Â
There are many people and organizations, however, who are not taking recommendations seriously. That is highly concerning.Â
Health Minister Patty Hajduestimates that between 30 and 70 per cent of Canadians could contract COVID-19 before the pandemic is over. That is between 11 million to 26 million cases. If over five per cent of those cases need ICU treatment, as is currently seen in Italy and China, our approximately 3,200 ICU beds are not going to cut it if a large number of people get ill at the same time.Â
Last week, the Fraser Health region had eight ICU beds open out of 80, according to then Abbotsford News. The region services 1.9 million people.Â
We need to slow down transmission of the virus, and your individual actions have a direct impact on the health and safety of those around you.Â
If your work isn’t considered an essential service, one of the best things you can do is be really, really bored for a period of time. Social distancing, in addition to proper hygiene, is one of the main methods to slow the spread of COVID-19.Â
Stay at home if you can, and don’t hold non-essential gatherings. We are living in the digital age, with a thousand programs to help us connect remotely; try some of them out. Hold gatherings that are essential, either for business or your sanity, remotely, such as meetings, your Lord of the Rings marathon night, or poker night.Â
Additionally, businesses need to be taking every effort to enable their employees to work from home. The federal government rolled out an $82-billion aid package to help businesses and people during this time, including benefits for those who don’t qualify for sick leaves or employment insurance and who lose their job but don’t qualify for EI.Â
Remaining at home and avoiding social gatherings is not a trial — triage is. If we fail to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and overwhelm our hospitals, our health-care staff may need to decide who receives life-saving treatment and who doesn’t. This is actively happening in Italy.Â
So take a moment to consider your activity and whether it is necessary. It is our social responsibility to reduce the spread of this virus, and your actions have the ability to directly impact that.Â
