Which was today, in Nelson, approximately 3 blocks from my house.
These signs are everywhere. Everywhere. Printed, drawn in crayon, pencil, spray painted....
And - being on Facebook - a lurker, not a contributor - I've seen all the posts. The asshole who's never tipped in his life reminding restaurants of his loyal patronage. And all the rest, all the rest.
Anyways, day off, my errands largely are done - time now to go down and check out all the hot fuss.
And what a fuss! Easily Five hundred people, all waving banners, placards, cars honking their support, the 4 corners and boulevards at Vernon and Ward are full, full full. Placards saying "No Mandatory Vaccine" and "Medical Freedom for all" and ten thousand other nonsensical slogans that make no sense whatsoever from a broader prospective. To put it in perspective - last week (the last week for which numbers were reported) over 150 people tested positive for COVID in Nelson.
That's 1.5% of the population of 10, 000.
But - actually - it's not. Combine it with the 2 weeks before and you get to about 3.5%.
But - actually - it's not. Consider that 62% of Nelson's eligible population has been vaccinated - and that this 3.5% is drawn from the unvaccinated pool.
So now we're at about 8% of the unvaccinated have tested positive in 3 weeks.
Now consider that they're only testing people who are reporting symptoms. Given that 50% are estimated to have no symptoms you could comfortably guess that that rate may be as high as 16%.
Oh, but that's not all. There's any number of people here that refuse to get tested - under any circumstances - for fear of getting into "The System" - the people without a BC Care card, the anti-taxxers, anti-vaxxers, the off-the grid, the all of the fucking wing-nut alternative "thinkers' and you're getting a much higher number.
And, 500+ people, still coming down the street, late, no readily available parking, it's all taken, to gather in close quarters without masks and protest an invisible, non existent entity like COVID, like protesting air or gravity or radio waves or 5G - oh, wait - we all know that's real, how else would Bill control the COVID Chip?
Anyways, I should have made up my own placard, "TITS OUT FOR FREEDOM" or some other such enticing offer, given the level of enlightenment there might have been a show. But - really, you have to keep your distance, there's no close quarters for these people, not until the virus has done it's thing and natural selection has culled the herd.