Dear Editor:
On the front page of the June 11 Advertiser, a picture showed protesters (about five thousand according to the article) taking a knee in Guelph. There was no social distancing and the gentleman in the very front was not even wearing a mask. This was similar to another recent newspaper photo of our illustrious prime minister in Ottawa doing the same thing and the crowds were so close together they were practically rubbing shoulders. Yet we are not allowed to have even 11 people in a socially distanced group to meet for a coffee.
Does there not seem something wrong with this picture? What if the 11 people decided to make their coffee clutch a protest meeting? Would that make it acceptable? Perhaps it is just that it is easier to fine 11 people, but next to impossible to do the same for 5,000.
A second question: does the recent draconian order from Dr. Nicola Mercer of Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health, that anyone who does not wear a mask in a commercial establishment be fined up to $5,000, seem a little excessive?
Even during the past intensive lockdown, the fines were mostly under $1,000. One can cross the Wellington County boundary to Waterloo Region or to neighbouring Perth County and find a different world. Why does Dr. Mercer not address the contamination that occurs when protesters rub shoulder to shoulder? Strangely silent!
Does there not seem something wrong with this picture?
Robert Koechl,
Belwood