This past week while at one of my part-time jobs in Burnaby, I have had several people inquire over the phone and in-person as to if we sell hand sanitizers.
I work at a bookstore.
When my answer disappoints them, they hurriedly hang-up or rush out of the store to continue their search. This example highlights the level of desperation that many residents in the city have succumbed to, stemming from a sense of fear and concern for their families’ safety.
Many of Metro Vancouver’s local drugstores, supermarketsand grocery stores sold out of face masks, hand sanitizers, and antibacterial wipes weeks ago. The demand has been so high that most of the stores have had to display signs at their pharmacies that they are sold out.
I have personally witnessed customers rushing into these stores and asking managers for hand sanitizers or masks.
The environment feels eerily apocalyptic.
While I acknowledge it is valid to prioritize individual health and well-being, it is not valid, however, to make hasty decisions that fall inconsistent with what health authorities recommend. It is also not an excuse for closet-racists to emerge and point fingers and make xenophobic comments.
It’s difficult for the average newsreader to avoid feeling panic and building anxiety when reading about the rising death toll in China and the thousands of infected cases being confirmed daily from the novel coronavirus—or 2019-ncov. Phrases like “deadly” being paired with numbers and dire photos from Wuhan, Chinaare adding fuel to the fires of worry inside the minds of Vancouverites. The announcement of confirmed cases in Canada (five at this time of writing, but it’s helpful to note four are out of the hospital) were also a major contributor to the hysteria. However, we need to inform ourselves properly without jumping to rash conclusions, as well as put the situation into perspective.
For instance, the rush to buy surgical face masks from is not a helpful course of action. In the case of this province, updates from Vancouver Coastal Health and the B.C. Centre for Disease Control stated that it “is not necessary”for the general public to go beyond typical measures that one would do during the winter flu season.
These include washing your hands regularly, not touching your face, sneezing into your elbow, and staying home if you are sick. The organizations have repeated multiple times that Canada is at a very low risk.
Vancouver Coastal Health actually does “not recommend wearing a mask”since surgical masks are not designed to provide “significant protection.”
The widespread misconception is growing that the common surgical mask will provide a line of defense against the novel coronavirus. Surgical masks don’t prevent smaller airborne particles such as viral and bacterial infections from coming in. They’re meant more as a preventive measurefrom spreading it for those already sick.
A person who is already sick or with symptoms would use a mask to prevent their own droplets from compromising others’ health. Despite these facts and statements from health authorities, people are stockpiling their stashes of blue surgical masks. Don’t even get me started on those that wear fashion masks, which havezero preventive benefits.
Those who are buying up stocksof N95 respirator masks may have a bit more protection, as this type can fit securely on the face and has the ability to filter out 95% of airborne particles.
However, a large issue with the public impulsively buying these is that most people are not trained to put them on properly, and in order to effectively work, must be fit-tested. The bottom line is: if you don’t wear the right size, it’s a complete waste of material on your face—and is just the same as you wearing nothing.
To make the situation more frustrating, some residents of Asian descent have been the target of racist or xenophobic comments, due to an unfortunate association with the virus’ origin in China.
One such event occurred at Metrotownin a parking lot. Migrants throughout historyhave been subject to repeated racist narratives of being unhygienic or bringing in disease. The association between an Asian visitor and the novel coronavirus is quite unfair and perpetuates feelings of discrimination, prejudice, and exclusion. The anti-Chinese discourse is fuelled on the Internet with the pointing of fingers at China for allowing the consumption of wild animals and not tightly regulating this.
Yet, despite swine flu (H1N1) claiming over 1000 lives in Indiain 2019, the South Asian community in Metro Vancouver has not been a source of scrutiny or disdain. Attacking an entire ethnicity over a new virus that is mostly out of their control isn’t just rude, but is ignorant, considering the many lives the flu takes each year.
To put this all into further perspective, Health Canada estimates there are around 12,200 hospitalizations and 3,500 fatalitiesfrom annual influenza season. If you are truly worried about your family’s health and well-being, you can at least get them a flu shot appointment.
Kayli Jamieson is a Simon Fraser University student.
