VANCOUVER—It’s an annual tradition. It’s the moment the sun comes out after six months of rain, when Vancouverites celebrate by having picnics at the beach, hiking the local mountains with friends and jogging along the seawall.

Some habits are too ingrained for even a pandemic to change, it seems.

As hundreds of doctors and nurses prepared their emergency rooms for the influx of coronavirus patients this weekend, hordes of Vancouverites flocked outside to enjoy the sunny 13C weather.

Beaches were packed, forest trails were full of dog walkers, and social media quickly filled with messages of disbelief and judgment.

“Congrats, you’re the Florida of Canada,” said one Twitter user.

Those gathering outside were “worse than Stanley Cup rioters,” said another, referring to the riot following the Vancouver Canucks’ Game 7 loss in the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs.

“It’s appalling,” said Annalee Yassi, Canada research chair in Global Health and professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health.

She spoke with the Star from her Vancouver home overlooking Kitsilano Beach. There were dozens of people sitting on the grass, and earlier, people were playing on the nearby basketball courts, she said.

“When I look out my window, it’s business as usual. It doesn’t look as though there is anything different going on,” she said. “We need to do better.”

As of Sunday, there were more than 1,300 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Canada. Nineteen Canadians have died in connection with the virus so far. Every day, health officials emphasize the importance of social distancing — staying two metres apart from one another — in order to slow the spread of the virus.

But in B.C., the hardest hit province with more than 400 cases and 10 deaths, some people think holding gatherings of 10 or fewer people is still OK, according to a poll by Research Co.

More than one in four respondents (26 per cent) in B.C. said such gatherings were either “probably” or “definitely” reasonable, in an online survey conducted Saturday.

In Ontario, 22 per cent of respondents said such gatherings were reasonable.

Yet, in general Canadians seem to sense things would get worse soon. Three in four respondents in Canada agreed with the statement “the worst is probably ahead of us.”

Yassi believes most Canadians are socially responsible and don’t want to infect other people. But many aren’t aware that even if they have mild symptoms — perhaps undetectable symptoms — they can still transmit the virus to someone else.

People who have the coronavirus but aren’t aware of it play a large role in spreading the virus, she said.

“We should consider being a little bit more imposing, even if it means challenging social liberty for social good,” said Yassi.

It’s something governments and law enforcement do all the time, she said. Police sometimes patrol the beach for people drinking alcohol or smoking — both illegal in Vancouver’s parks — and hand out fines, she pointed out.

“Certainly we could do that now if people are not following social distancing rules.”

Yet, others tried to show people how to behave by example.

“Out on my run today I saw one of the Sedins running, just one all by his lonesome,” tweeted Rob Watson, a long-distance runner based in Vancouver. “I have never ever seen them not running together — if they are taking social distancing this seriously then we all can too. #belikethesedin” The Sedin twins, Henrik and Daniel, are retired Vancouver Canucks players.

Others are taking a more direct approach.

“I’ll now walk around with a ruler,” said emergency room physician Steven Fedder, co-president of the Section of Emergency Medicine in B.C. “I’ll unroll the ruler and say you need to stay away.”

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Fedder said he was shocked by the “unacceptable” behaviour he saw this weekend, including people crowding the aisles of grocery stores and groups of friends sitting together at the beach.

He said his own 18-year-old daughter doesn’t seem to understand why her life has to temporarily change due to COVID-19. People like her are unlikely to die from the virus, after all.

The idea of “flattening the curve” may be abstract for many people, but by the time the consequences of not flattening the curve arrive it will be too late, he said.

Doctors in hospitals will be forced to ration resources and “decide who gets what,” he said. In Italy, doctors have had to refuse treatment for some COVID-19 patients because there aren’t enough resources to go around.

“I don’t want that to happen. But without social distancing, that’s the direction we’re going.”

And while young people may feel safe from the virus, it could still cause them immense emotional pain, he said. Teenagers and young adults can easily spread the virus to their parents or grandparents, who have a much higher chance of dying after contracting COVID-19, he said.

Due to the lack of social distancing at Vancouver’s parks and beaches this weekend, the park board decided it would help people observe the rules by removing basketball hoops at outdoor courts, closing parking lots and putting up caution tape.

On Sunday afternoon, the park board announced it was banning vehicle parking at popular destinations such as Stanley Park, English Bay and others.

“The park board is taking this measure as a result of insufficient public compliance with social distancing protocol at many parks and beaches,” it said in a news release.

Park board general manager Malcolm Bromley posted a video on Twitter that showed a tractor moving the logs from English Bay — “to discourage (people) sitting close to others,” he explained.

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart said in a news conference Sunday that tougher enforcement measures are coming to ensure people follow COVID-19-related measures.

“The time of asking nicely is coming to an end,” he said.

B.C.’s health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is expected to give an update on the COVID-19 situation Monday morning.

Yassi said people need to understand that recommendations by governments during a public health emergency are not mere suggestions.

“Maybe it’s time for Canada to be a little more authoritarian,” she said, “to get the message out that this is serious.”

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