analysis: we're not all in this together in the third wave

one year ago, politicians across canada told us “we’re all in this together.” ontario premier doug ford delivered the message during a video as he made  cherry cheesecake . and canadians bought into it.

they organized online to get  groceries to seniors , to  #supportlocal  and to  clap for carers  — examples of the made-in-canada  “caremongering” movement  were talked about globally.

now, after a year of repeated lockdowns and a confusing vaccine rollout, people across the country are online and organizing  anti-lockdown marches ,  anti-curfew protests and riots  and disseminating  anti-vaccine conspiracies . some canadians are angry and defiant.

short-lived solidarity

while some thought the pandemic would level the playing field and  bring communities together , scholars who study community recovery after crises were aware that  solidarity would be short-lived . to make matters worse, scholars have observed that social inequality and  social divisions  often re-emerge after a crisis and can sometimes become even stronger.

as the third wave hits hot-spot communities, people affected are less protected and prioritized now, and  hit harder  than when the pandemic started. many are blaming the ontario government’s poor public health policies for what doctors are calling a preventable “ humanitarian catastrophe .”

what we are witnessing in ontario is  politically produced precarity . politically produced precarity is when political discourse and public policies create an environment that makes people experience precarity (or uncertainty). this can be seen through essential workplaces being allowed to stay open during ontario’s state of emergency, but neglecting essential workers when it comes to prioritizing them for vaccinations. these workers are made precarious by the policies in place, not due to the lack of vaccines.

data  on the ontario government’s website  shows that workplaces account for 29 per cent of all covid-19 outbreaks. this is only second to education, which accounts for 34 per cent of outbreaks.

their work is essential, but not their lives

in addition to not being prioritized for vaccinations, despite having no option but to go into work, essential workers still don’t have paid sick leave. since the beginning of the pandemic,  doctors and   local medical officers of health  across ontario have called for paid sick leave. this call has only grown stronger during the third wave.

ford  continues to push back , saying there is already a federal program in place. but advocates say the federal covid-19 sick leave benefit has restrictions that make it inaccessible to lower-income, precarious and migrant workers.

a recent poll found the  vast majority of ontario residents are in favour of paid sick days . yet, despite so much support, essential workers are still forced to go to work even if they feel sick, risking the spread of covid-19.

torontonian andrew do shared on twitter and in the media how  both his parents got covid-19  days before their vaccine appointments. do’s father works in a factory where he believes he got infected, and his parents live at jane and finch, a lower-income neighbourhood located in toronto’s northwest.

as  do explains , he thinks his parents’ vulnerability increased during the pandemic because of how the neighbourhood is treated by governments and the health-care system.

elena fiddian-qasmiyeh, a researcher who studies politically produced precarity, explains how we need to understand the vulnerabilities that people are facing and their responses. she says we can do this by considering how  local experiences and responses are framed by political systems  and the structural inequalities and processes of marginalization and exclusion that have gotten us here.

the wealthier the neighbourhood, the more vaccines

the inequality in vaccine access is summed up by a recent article in the  toronto star : “ a tale of two neighbourhoods: jane and finch with the lowest vaccination rate, moore park with the highest .” the story highlights how one of the poorest neighbourhoods in toronto has the lowest vaccination rate, and one of the richest neighbourhoods has the highest.

an analysis  from the  institute for clinical evaluative sciences  showed that covid-19 is disproportionately affecting toronto neighbourhoods with the most essential workers and lowest income levels. similarly, pharmacies that administer vaccines are  primarily located in toronto’s most affluent neighbourhoods .

in addition, an investigation into how hot-spot postal codes were selected by the ford government has revealed that vaccine rollout may have been  driven by partisan considerations . five of the included zones — all represented by progressive conservative mpps — had infection rates that were below the provincial average while seven excluded zones had higher-than-average infection rates but are represented by opposition politicians.

this news, combined with stories of  young front-line workers begging pharmacists for vaccines  while vaccines sit in freezers at risk of expiration, have enraged many ontarians. some have started to count the days until the next provincial election while others have called for  ford’s resignation .

ending politically produced precarity?