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On Monday, with Canada in the grips of an historic emergency, rumours began to circulate online that seemed, at first, too stupid to be true.

For days, health officials had been begging the public to practice social distancing. The message had been crystal clear.

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“I ask that everyone in Ontario does their best to avoid close contact with people outside of their immediate families,” the province’s top doctor said in one missive. “Close contact includes being within two meters of another person.”

There was no excuse by that point for confusion. It was not a hard concept to grasp. Keep your distance. Stay away from others whenever you possibly can. It is the most important, most basic thing you can do. It is literally a matter of life and death for the vulnerable, for health care workers and the elderly.