@BarryB:  yep, hadn't thought about fire crews.  I suppose that alone is a good argument for closing.  Hopefully Parks staff have some options and not all laid off.

GordK wrote:

I figured this one would be contentious.  What about just declaring the parks not staffed?  Why lock gates?  Yes, rhetorical questions to some degree and yes I appreciate our concerns for the safety of park staff and first responders; but, there is also the fact that getting outside is good for us. And does this concern for safety also extend to your internet service providers?  What about mail delivery which is still ongoing?  Why force the garbage collectors to come to my door, drive through disposal at the landfill might be safer?  Is walking around the block where my neighbour was just coughing more or less dangerous social-distance wise than having to pump some gas to go for a hike?   Keep in mind droplets can last up to 3 hrs airborne.  

Should there not be more balance?  Ok ,TLDR i know.  I think the message from Parks should have been better and i think that some attention should be paid to context, not every park every where needs to be closed.

@PaPaddler:  Obviously don't intend to make people work or breathe air they don't want to.  But I think my posts are clear on that.  Keep in mind there are many who might want to be working not just for salary but because they love their job.  Same goes for Randy at Algonquin Outfitters or the gas station owner - they can open or not and I bet they would prefer the option to close or to find ways to continue operating safely (though I don't want to pretend to speak for anyone).
 

 I agree. Balance is good. It’s not like the backcountry is a crowded place. They already limit sites to 9 visitors and its rare that this limit is ever reached.

800 people/day dying in Italy, 400 people/day dying in Spain. opefully we can avoid this, but it's likely gonna take a few months.

I was originally against the backcountry bam, but have come to see a country-wide lockdown as the best possible (and likely the only viable) solution to avoid a nation-wide catastrophe.

Also, this is why we can't have nice things:
https://globalnews.ca/news/6714217/mountains-canmore-covid-19-coronavirus/

Please stay home. 

Jdbonney wrote:

The unfortunate truth is that people, generally, cannot be trusted. There are cases of this virus now, in Toronto, that have resulted from community spread. Meaning they did not get this virus from travel. How did that happen. We are supposed to be self isolating and quarantining and social distancing. If those things are being done, how is this spreading? The answer, of course, is that people aren’t following the rules.....

The social distancing/isolating recommendations only started about one week ago.

Hypothetically, if 7 days ago everyone went into full quarantine, we would still expect to see new cases for 14 days after that date; in other words, 7 days into the future from today's date. If the quarantine was 100% effective, then on approximately day 14 we would expect to see 0 new cases. That's an extremely simplified example, but just to display that the people who are being tested/confirmed today, likely became infected prior to the implementation of social distancing efforts.

So the benefits of social distancing won't be noticed for another week or so.

But yes I do agree with you that unfortunately people aren't listening, and unfortunately this means a prolonged need to socially distance. The more that each of us individually does our part and does what's best for the community, the better the outcome will be. And the quicker we'll be able to get back in Algonquin

Just this weekend I saw dozens of birdwatchers (and you know they are boomers) tightly clustered in parking lots overlooking melted ponds to photograph Canada Geese.
Shoulder to shoulder.
For Geese.

Jdbonney wrote:

So here in Halton region they have just had to announce the closure of our conservation areas. They closed the offices, bathrooms and permit booths but left the gates open so that people could go in and go for a walk.

It was overrun. Pictures of the parking lots crammed with both cars and people are on social media. A responsible person would have seen that on arrival and just turned around and gone home...social distancing and all. Instead they just parked on the grass and joined the crowd. As they say, the problem with common sense is that it just isn't all that common.

I can guarantee even if some small part of Algonquin is advertised as open for business, it will be overrun. and clearly people won't take that as a sign to turn around and go home, but an invitation to join the party.

There is a resort in Algonquin Park offering huge discounts and free in-room delivery because of Covid-19. This is totally nuts.

A trip to Algonquin was the one thing I was counting on still being able to do with my family this summer. I find it hard to believe they'd shut the park down, but keep the GO Trains running!

It's all about keeping the R0 factor down under 1, meaning each person who gets the virus will, on average,  spread it to less than 1 other person.

Unchecked, the virus R0 is reportedly at 2-2.5. By cutting our number of social encounters down by a 3 or 4 factor the R0, will accordingly go down by the same factor to get it below 1. I think most of us have reduced social encounters by far more than 3 or 4, so you'd think that once this original round of tests that are picking up the spread from more than a week back (before we shut everything down), we'll see a quick decline.

Given the math and the tiny, tiny effect backcountry camping could have on R0 values, I strongly believe that shutting people out of the outdoors in areas where adequate social distancing can be maintained is doing more harm than good.

Last edited by JoeScmoe (3/23/2020 11:38 am)

I'm requesting that forum users actively support the province's effort to curb the spread of the virus.

I also ask that we fact-check our "news" before posting it! For example, a resort that is in Whitney is not in Algonquin Park. The angst-level around the pandemic is high enough without cranking it up with mis-information. Thanks.