Defiance Comes With A Cost

One of the things that riles me more than most is the absolute zeal with which the anti-vaxxers embrace their cause. Call it truculence, call it misplaced zeal, call it whatever you will, their willfully ignorant stance ignores the facts of Covid-19 and its very effective Kryptonite, the vaccines themselves. Unfortunately, the collateral damage caused by their desperate and pitiable effort to define themselves by their defiance is the rest of us.

Public health and any sense of community beyond their own benighted cadre seems non-existent.

Now added to the fray are restaurants and other businesses that are openly advertising that they do not 'discriminate' and will not be asking for proof of status as a condition of entry.

Propelled by a mixture of vaccine skepticism, business decisions and fear of government overreach, these proprietors — ranging from burger joints in Toronto to a Brazilian jiu-jitsu class in Thornhill — have formed an extensive and well-documented network of restaurants, gyms, cafes and more where clientele can enter regardless of jab status.

 In a Facebook group called “Ontario Businesses Against Health Pass,” which boasts more than 139,000 members, small business owners and entrepreneurs across the province have been promoting their products and decrying the Reopening Ontario Act.

“At King Jiu Jitsu, we do NOT discriminate,” wrote Gregg King, operator of a martial arts class in Thornhill, in the Facebook group. “Vaxxed or not vaxxed you are all welcome to train in a safe and friendly environment ... No BS. No politics. No Drama!”

 The posts receive scores of supportive messages from like-minded people. The businesses are added to an online directory, called Ontario BAD (Businesses Against Discrimination), where they can advertise their work and submit job postings to fill vacancies.

Apparently there are close to 700 enterprises listed on the site. If you are curious,  you can check out some of them on this Google Maps compilation.

Arguments for their stance are disingenuous at best. Jenna Barnes, owner of a very small restaurant in Hamilton called The Harbour Diner, 

thinks the province is disadvantaging small businesses by implementing rules that don’t apply to big corporations.

“You can walk into a Canadian Tire, or a Walmart, or a Costco and nobody will ask you a damn question about your medical history. Why is it all on us?”

The obvious answer, of course, is that those enterprises require masks at all times, something that is impossible when one is eating.

The Star's Emma Teitel has a solution to the problems posed by these scofflaws. 

What if, you, a fully vaccinated person, dine at a restaurant you assumed to be safe, only to discover later on that not only did you contract COVID-19 from an outbreak at the restaurant, but its owner failed to check diners’ vaccination statuses and boasted about this failure online?

According to Alex Colangelo, a lawyer and professor of paralegal studies at Humber College, you might have recourse to sue the restaurant for negligence.

 Consider this passage from Ontario’s Occupiers’ Liability Act, the “occupier” for our purposes being a business owner: “An occupier of premises owes a duty to take such care as in all the circumstances of the case is reasonable to see that persons entering on the premises, and the property brought on the premises by those persons are reasonably safe while on the premises.”

Consider this passage from Ontario’s Occupiers’ Liability Act, the “occupier” for our purposes being a business owner: “An occupier of premises owes a duty to take such care as in all the circumstances of the case is reasonable to see that persons entering on the premises, and the property brought on the premises by those persons are reasonably safe while on the premises.”

It is time that those who proudly trumpet their truculence accept responsibility for their irresponsibility. Lawsuits, fines for non-compliance and even closure of businesses seem a good place to start imparting a much-needed lesson. 

Sometimes They Get It Right

People who read this blog more than occasionally will be aware that I am not a big fan of Americans. Their widespread ignorance, their collective solipsism, their endless bruiting about being "the greatest nation on earth" are off-putting, to put it mildly.

However, once in awhile, some of them make sane, logical and admirable decisions that would be churlish not to acknowledge.

One such decision has been made by Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York City.

New York City will become the first U.S. city to require proof of vaccination for a variety of activities for workers and customers — indoor dining, gyms and movie theaters — a move intended to put pressure on people to get vaccinated, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday.

The restrictions, similar to mandates issued in France and Italy last month, represent the most aggressive response to lagging vaccination rates in the United States, and they come as the number of virus cases surge across the country. Mr. de Blasio said he hoped that other cities would implement similar measures.

“This is a miraculous place literally full of wonders,” Mr. de Blasio said. “If you’re vaccinated, all that’s going to open up to you. But if you’re unvaccinated, unfortunately you will not be able to participate in many things.”

A contrast to the benighted 'leadership' on display in Florida, where even mask mandates are forbidden, de Blasio recognizes the power of both the carrot and the stick. The carrot, of course, is that the vaccinated can move about freely to patronize gyms, restaurants, bars, museums, Broadway plays, etc. and the stick is the exclusion of those obdurately opposed to vaccines from such venues.

There is evidence that de Blasio's strategy is spreading.

Vaccine mandates are accelerating across the country, as both municipalities and private businesses have adopted them. On Tuesday, Tyson Foods told its 120,000 workers in offices, slaughterhouses and poultry plants across the country that they would need to be vaccinated by Nov. 1 as a “condition of employment.” And Microsoft, which employs roughly 100,000 people in the United States, said it would require proof of vaccination for all employees, vendors and guests to gain access to its offices.

President Biden said on Tuesday that he believed other cities should follow New York City’s lead in requiring proof of vaccination for restaurants and gyms.

“You have to give proof that you’ve been vaccinated or you can’t come in,” Mr. Biden told reporters.

Sadly, such a sane approach to opening things up and instilling peace of mind in potential patrons is lacking in places like Ontario. Premier Ford has said he does not want to split society.

I guess he did not get the memo that we already are split, and the gulf is growing wider daily. Letting the tail wag the dog is never a good approach to public policy, especially when it comes to public health.

The Writing Is On The Wall (And In The Newspapers)

 

H/t Patrick Corrigan

The is such a wealth of good letters to the editor today that I had a hard time choosing what to reproduce. 

They have one thing in common: the need for vaccine certificates is great, Doug Ford's refusal notwithstanding.

Re Vaccine passports should be on Ford’s list, July 28; Vaccine passports can prevent lockdowns, July 27 

Emma Teitel and Matt Elliott have each provided excellent arguments for the necessity and benefits of Ontario having vaccine passports.

I couldn’t agree more.

Let me remind the freedom-doubters there are numerous rights we all readily give up because they support order and public safety.

For example, you cannot legally drive your car out of your driveway without a valid driver’s license and car insurance.

Those who freely choose not to go by these conditions simply forfeit their right to drive on our public roads.

Similarly, those who freely choose not to get vaccinated, and thus obtain a vaccine passport, simply forfeit their right to mingle with the rest of us at a restaurant patio, a movie theatre, or a Blue Jay’s game.

And they certainly forfeit their right to work in our health-care settings or in our schools.

Ivan Brown, Toronto

I disagree strongly with the Ford government’s assertion that Ontario has no need for a vaccination passport.

People refuse to take a vaccine based on conspiracy theories that are unbelievable.

Those who refuse are putting the rest of us at risk, themselves at risk, their friends and family at risk, and most of all, they are going to clog up the healthcare system even more.

If it takes a passport to move some of these people off their unfounded theories, then that’s what we need.

Carl Irwin, Flesherton, Ont.

When most of the public overwhelmingly wants a vaccine passport in place, the premier of our province won’t step up to the plate.

He doesn’t want to offend a small segment of society by implementing the only way we will ultimately beat this virus.

While food service businesses, schools, long-term care, hospitals and scores of smaller service enterprises struggle to survive due to lax vaccine policies, the premier waffles as he refuses to do the right thing and make decisions that will save lives and jobs.

It’s time for Doug Ford to be the responsible parent and do the right thing.

Marion Bartlett, Singhampton, Ont.

Re A big tent of COVID misinformation, July 24 

The best incentive for vaccinations is a person’s job and the capacity to participate in the daily life of one’s choosing — as prescribed elsewhere, where the leaders are actually informed and not like our poorly educated premier, lack of vaccination comes with a price, literally.

No entry to restaurants, concerts, anywhere that crowds gather; no return to working without proof of full vaccination … what kind of privacy or rights come with the risk of infecting others and endangering our city, our province, the world?

Maybe the premier is blind to the reality that we all live. Perhaps his business ties blind him to the world apart from profit and cronyism. Blindness is the theme. But blindness in this case can be cured.

Joel Greenberg, Studio 180 Theatre

Let’s take a critical look at the antivaxxers and anti-lockdown adherents to examine whose civil liberty they are actually protecting.

Putting others at risk of infection and sabotaging vaccine clinics interferes with the rights of others to be protected from COVID-19.

It also jeopardizes the goal of reaching herd immunity and the possibility of going back to some degree of normalcy.

Not only are these people interfering with the civil liberties of those who want protection from the virus, they are also shooting themselves in the foot by increasing the likelihood of more lockdowns.

If the anti-vaxxers adherents are so vehemently opposed to lockdowns, has it not occurred to them that, if they were to get vaccinated, it would be a great way to help prevent the closings?

But that won’t happen as logical thinking is clearly absent among these folk.

Catherine Helwig, Toronto