Certain social distancing measures are counterintuitive
References
1. Andreas Laupacis. Working together to contain and manage COVID-19. CMAJ 2020;192:E340-E341.
2. Bains, C. Fine Canadians for ignoring COVID-19 orders or face consequences: doctor. https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/fine-canadians-for-ignoring-covid-19-orders-or-face-consequences-doctor (accessed Apr 2, 2020).
3. Marchitelli, R. Why many passengers grounded by COVID-19 aren't getting refunds for cancelled flights. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/passengers-grounded-covid-19-air-canada-westjet-sunwing-1.5510105 (accessed Mar 26, 2020).
4. The Canadian Press Air Canada to lay off 16,500 employees amid pandemic-related flight cancellations. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air-canada-layoffs-1.5515197 (accessed Mar 30, 2020).
5. Markusoff, J.; Friscolanti, M. Inside the frantic, gruelling, all-hands-on-deck effort to bring Canadians home. https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/inside-the-frantic-gruelling-all-hands-on-deck-effort-to-bring-canadians-home/ (accessed Apr 3, 2020).
I want to congratulate the federal and provincial governments for reinforcement of social distancing,[1] such as fining the violators,[2] which is probably an effective strategy to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. Nevertheless, I cannot help but notice the double-standard the governments have on the public versus large companies. For instance, several domestic and international flights in Canada have been cancelled due to significant reduction of passengers.[3] That could be a cost-saving move by these flight companies.[4] That result in several passengers being crowded into a few aircrafts that defeat the purpose of social distancing. Ironically, when these flight companies are elaborating how they bring Canadians home amid this global pandemic,[5] they are actually increasing the risk of COVID-19 transmission by cancellation of their flights. Perhaps, these flight companies should also be fined each time they fail to provide a passenger a 2-meter social distance space in aircraft.
I also heard of medical schools prohibiting their students, who were in their out-of-province electives, to return home by flights. I wonder whether the risk of COVID-19 transmission is even worse when these students carpool and interact with various strangers in gas stations and hotels. I understand we currently have only limited evidence-based measures to halt COVID-19 transmission. However, if we logically think about it, these aforementioned strategies are somewhat counterintuitive.