Imagine the movie A Star Is Born — the original or the Lady Gaga one — without the soundtrack.
Unthinkable, right?
Yet, that is what life has been like for most of us since March of 2020. We’re living, but without the events — literally and figuratively the music — that colours our lives beautiful.
Things like the Squamish Days Loggers Sports Festival coming back this weekend, and the Pemberton Stockcar Association races being packed with fans this summer, make it feel like life in all its kaleidoscopic wonder may be returning.
Not fully yet, but soon.
Yet, COVID-19 is not gone and, in fact, is on the rise.
Thus, as much as the B.C. Vaccine Card is a burden on all of us — front-line workers who have to ask for it most of all — it is a necessary temporary hurdle.
We can’t go back, so this is a way forward.
The proof of vaccination card requirement isn’t unique to B.C. Quebec has had such a system since Sept. 1. Countries worldwide — the U.K. and all 27 member nations of the E.U., plus Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, and China — have vaccine passes.
Is it ideal? Of course not. No one wants this.
But what we want even less is to be on lockdown again.
Our economy can’t take another shut down or significant slow down — don’t forget, 2020 was the worst year on record for Canada’s economy, as it shrank by 5.4%.
Our mental health can’t take it. Not only did the lockdown play havoc on the mental health of almost all of us, while in lockdown, folks who were struggling pre-pandemic also couldn’t always access their support group or therapist in person, for example.
Lockdowns hit our most vulnerable the hardest.
Our families can’t take it — around the world, when movement is restricted, intimate partner violence goes up.
Add to that, the overdose crisis — fentanyl poisoning in particular — gets worse when we are locked down and isolated.
Our medical professionals can’t take another surge of ICU COVID patients should protocols fail and yet another wave hit. Not to mention the regular folks who have their surgeries or treatment bumped to deal with the pandemic patients.
So, given a choice, the vaccine passport seems our best option.
Let’s embrace it and enjoy the fact it means those of us who are vaccinated can go to the pub with a friend, attend a concert and attend a wedding.
The soundtrack of our lives is starting to play once again.
