This picture was taken on March 20th in the morning during the usual rush hour. As it could be clearly seen that the TTC that was supposed to be crowded was now almost empty. The cause of this was nonetheless- COVID-19 which is also known as coronavirus.
As of today March 26th, the global pandemic has brought Ontario 858 confirmed cases. As the situation elevated pretty quickly as Ontario declared the State of Emergency on March 17th but soon after that ordered a mandatory closure of all non-essential workplace on March 23th. Also on March 23th, Justin Trudeau made things clear as he stated in the following video that ‘Enough is enough, go home and stay home.’
So here comes the problem when individuals’ benefits encounter with social benefits. Under the greater circumstances, people’s choices and actions became crucial, but some can also be quite dramatic.
As the virus hit the healthcare system hard in a short time, provinces had reached out to newly retired doctors and nurses asking for a possible return to help out the overwhelming situation. And the responses were “Yes” for thousands of medical staff as they answered the call to come back because they believe society’s benefits outweigh their own personal benefits. Nurse Della O’Neil was one of them and she said that:
“It’s a sign of the times, I just think it is all hands on deck.”
CTV News – Source 3
On the other hand, there is always an opposite side of any situation just as a 53-year-old woman was arrested for refusing to stay inside after coming back from another province. Under usual circumstances, she could argue that she had personal rights of freedom. But this was not the case in this pandemic as her actions may put public health at a greater risk. As of now, she’s waiting for a court appearance while she’s put in custody..(Toronto Star – Source 4)
However, struggles did exist as one labour union official Jack Da Silva gave a speech to fellow construction workers this Wednesday morning.
“I’ve got an 86-year-old at home. My wife is crying every time I go home because she doesn’t know I’m going to kill her father if I have something.”-Jack Da Silva
The quote above was taken from the speech and it was heartbreaking. Jack and his fellow coworkers were stuck in an awkward situation as they were still obligate to work as construction sites were one of the essential workplaces that still remained open, but it could be clearly seen that the safety concerns were legit as not enough protection was provided. This is one great example when the coworkers’ individual safety conflicted with the company or the city’s benefits as construction needed to be done. And it was frustrating to see a situation like this happening.
So what should people do under this large picture of the pandemic? One thing for sure is that people should unite together as one and take responsibility for their actions. Although some people’s benefits may be hurt just like some store owners had to close their shops or some people couldn’t go to a sports game as it was cancelled. But for the greater circumstances of slowing down the spread of the virus through the country and then cause further more damage, individual sacrifice as simple as staying home needed to be made in order to settle the situation down.
Sources:
(2)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1hQ01tB1_Y
(5)https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/video-highlights-frustration-of-toronto-construction-workers
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