The strange thing about Yorkton for the past few months is that we have been in a bit of a bubble, all things considered. Very few cases of COVID-19, which made it pretty easy to start to discount it. It was other people鈥檚 problem, in other words, something we don鈥檛 have to think about very much. As the rest of the world went in panic mode, we were pretty comfortably in our little bubble not having to worry about much of anything. People still took precautions, but there was a definite undercurrent of 鈥榳e don鈥檛 have to, really, it鈥檚 not a big deal here.鈥�
Naturally, it was inevitable that the bubble would burst.
And it did, this past weekend, with cases centered around a local gym, extending out to the Yorkton Regional High School and Yorkton Regional Health Centre, along with local businesses and the RCMP detachment, leading to an outbreak to be declared in the city. It also, inevitably, came to bite vocal skeptics who could fly under the radar while the virus was mostly other people鈥檚 problem. The trouble is that now that COVID-19 is on our doorstep, the skeptics are suddenly looking like fools, and worse, people who allowed this to happen.
But then, we were in an environment which fostered a degree of skepticism. We were basically fine, and people in town were doing things that in other areas would be deemed risky. After all, if there鈥檚 no virus, you can鈥檛 catch it, and from all reports Yorkton wasn鈥檛 one of the areas that was even affected.
Which was great, for a time, but it also meant that this is a region which is a lot more prone to a major outbreak if one does happen. After all, if we鈥檙e fine, we鈥檙e not taking the same precautions other areas are, and that means it鈥檚 easier to spread here. A low-lying, but present, infection rate is going to keep the spread at a regular rate. It鈥檚 just always there, so there鈥檚 incentive to take precautions, and keep them up, because you know it鈥檚 possible.
Yorkton didn鈥檛 really have that, and while there are plenty of people taking precautions just in case, there were also many who weren鈥檛, and there weren鈥檛 really any consequences for it. After all, somehow the community had gotten through it all pretty much unscathed.
That does end now, and one wonders if this is going to chasten the skeptics or reinforce the need for precautions from people who are, otherwise, prone to get a little lazy as they don鈥檛 appear to be very necessary here.
It鈥檚 a complicated time for Yorkton, and one wonders what the fallout will be. Hopefully, in a few weeks, the result is everyone recovers and there isn鈥檛 an increase in deaths. In Saskatchewan, we have had the benefit of having some pretty good results, and the total of 24 deaths is definitely better than it could have been - one only needs to look at other countries and provinces to see how bad it can get. Yorkton is definitely in a good place to benefit from the province鈥檚 handling of the pandemic overall.
But we have to remember that the bubble has officially burst, and we can鈥檛 take that for granted anymore.
