As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, news outlets and social media are filled with stories about people coming together and helping others, performing selfless acts large and small that help, support, and comfort others.
There are also stories about coronavirus idiots, or covidiots, as they have been dubbed. Here are a few covidiot stories; can you spot which ones are true (no Googling allowed)?
1) A businessman chartered a private plane to fly himself and nine companions from London to Marseilles, France on April 4, where three helicopters were waiting to transport everyone on to Cannes for a holiday. France has banned all non-essential travel within the country since March 17, and requires anyone entering the country to hold a travel certificate showing that the journey is essential. The seven men, aged 40 to 50, and three women, aged 23 to 25, were unable to produce such a certificate, and were refused permission to stay.
2) After his Delta, B.C. yoga studio was shut down, the operator — who had claimed that hot yoga could kill the coronavirus — is facing an investigation after he entered health care facilities in an effort to get the “truth” about the pandemic. When asked, the man said he is looking for concrete evidence of the “so-called pandemic”, adding that he does not need to comply with directives from the Provincial Health Officer and that police should be investigating “where this pandemic is and what a virus is”. A B.C. cabinet minister did not mince words when describing the operator: “This individual is just a complete idiot.”
3) Marriage counsellors and divorce lawyers are reporting an uptick in business as the COVID-19 virus forces many couples to spend more time with each other, and one or both don’t like what they find. One London, Ontario couple might soon be among them, even though the virus showed how much they have in common. The husband, who says he felt his marriage of two years was going stale, had put up a profile on Grindr, where he said he was looking for someone who shared his interests. However, after he and his wife both began working from home and spending more time together, they realized they had a lot in common, including the TV series Supernatural, bicycling, and long walks. Apparently not realizing they were a pina colada short of being in a Rupert Holmes song, the couple looked set to revitalize their marriage, until the wife accidentally found the Grindr listing — which her husband had forgotten to delete — on the couple’s shared laptop.
4) A group of protesters in Vernon gathered recently to demonstrate against measures taken to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. They complained that waiting in lines outside stores is not normal and needs to stop, said that restricting the movement of healthy people is tyranny, and questioned the credibility of top US infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci. However, the group made sure to observe physical distancing protocols as they protested. “Make sure we stand six feet apart — not that we need to, because this virus is a hoax,” said one participant.
5) A North Vancouver couple is in hot water with residents of Galiano Island, after they showed up at their vacation cottage over the Easter weekend despite warnings that people should restrict their travel to essential trips only. The couple were challenged when they stopped at the Daystar Market, and explained that their trip was essential because they had received a report about someone suspicious loitering near their cottage. Asked why they had brought their boat with them, the wife replied that they were worried about it being stolen from their North Van home, following a rash of thefts in the neighbourhood.
Answers: Items three and five are false. The point is, which ones did you think were false?
editorial@accjournal.ca
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