A part of the challenge around the restrictions put in place to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic is that the situation keeps changing on an almost daily basis.
This also makes it hard for most people to follow when figuring out what they can or cannot do, and leads to confusion and impatience.
An example are graduation ceremonies, which most schools are doing online in a virtual manner, because large gatherings are not yet permitted, and weddings and funerals — all very important occasions that people should be able to attend and take part in.
The caution right now is to make sure we aren’t going to bring on a deadly second wave of infections of the COVID-19 virus, and thereby cause many more people to get sick and die. This is only proper, particularly on the part of public health officials, who are looking out for the good of the communities at large.
Sometimes some of the regulations are simply getting too complex and don’t really follow any logic, yet they will be enforced if people defy the rules.
Take the example of fishing, which is allowed. You can fish from the shoreline, or in a boat with a family member, but you cannot fish from a dock. This makes no sense whatsoever, because logically, you are not going to catch or spread COVID-19 by fishing from a dock.
All that is needed is the guideline of one person on the dock, therefore physical distancing can still be observed, and everyone is still safe.
For graduations, there is no reason that a public, physically-distanced and creative way of bringing the grads together can’t be considered. For a large Class of 2020 like at the Weyburn Comprehensive School, with a grad class of 170 students, obviously a restriction of 15 people in a gathering means the regular grad can’t happen.
So why does nobody say anything when hundreds upon hundreds of people with signs gather to protest, such as has happened three times recently at the Legislature in Regina in regard to protesting against racism?
The object of the protest is not the problem, but allowing a huge gathering like this while not allowing classes to celebrate graduation seems really wrong. There has to be a more reasonable approach than this.
For the Comp, why not have all the grads gather on the football field, distanced six feet from each other, and they can do a group photo that way, and the community and friends and families can get to see the grads, the dresses and the tuxes? This is just a suggestion, as there could also be a parade or something of that sort.
There needs to be caution, yes, but the “KISS rule” also needs to be applied: “Keep It Simple, Stupid”, along with a healthy dose of common sense and logic.
