Mixed Feelings Emerge!

 

By Kendall Worth



Photo: CDC

It seems, these days, with this new Omicron variation, many people are expressing frustration. It has been this way from the beginning. My first piece about the effects of COVID on people on Income Assistance was back in March 2020. At that time, there were concerns about isolation; lack of access to internet and information, with libraries closing; not having people to accompany you home after surgery or to stay with you; and a mention of the skyrocketing rents people were starting to experience. For more links to my stories about Income Assistance and COVID, see the links at the end of this post.

Recently, to update you re people living in poverty… They have expressed frustration to my face about things like:

  • Feeling Frustrated that the COVID case numbers are fluctuating like they have been lately. Large “positive” numbers over this past month and a half or so, but still Premier Houston and Dr. Robert Strang are not willing to fully lock down the province like they have in the past.

  • People refusing vaccination not caring what their decision is doing to the community of people living in poverty. In the view of this community, it is making Soup Kitchens “Takeout meals” last longer; making volunteer organizations continue to only offer meetings over ZOOM; and it is playing a part in keeping all the Public Health Measures in place even longer.

  • It has the smaller number of IA recipients with supportive family and friends, worried that they are not going to be able to reconnect with those who care about them possibility for the rest of their lives, if things keep going they way they are, and government/public health officials keep not addressing things like they should.

  • The larger percentage of unlucky IA recipients who have not got supportive family and friends are now living long term social isolation at its worst, or even living un-housed.

Overall, in-person communication with me, indicates that the poor in Halifax see the government behaving like they do not want COVID to go away. One thing I can say, however, is everyone who is part of my community, and known personally to me, have all done our part in this and got our vaccines including our boosters, (or, of course, some still have upcoming appointments for a booster) and wearing masks. The un-vaccinated are significantly contributing to keeping COVID circulating and mask mandates in place.


Lately, some welfare recipients have told me that they are getting scared and concerned, that the way we are expected to live during this pandemic, is going to be the way we have to live for the rest of our lives! For those without close family, larger incomes, and even access to basic services like internet, libraries and some rec centres, it is not so easy. But almost all the people I talk to are doing their best to follow the rules, hoping restrictions will end.


Photo: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201022-how-solitude-and-isolation-can-change-how-you-think  

 Note to readers:  I never identify Income Recipients by name. I remind readers that the reason for this, is that many income recipients have people in their lives that will judge them, have stigma related to their circumstances, and many have past experiences where they were harrased for being IA recipients.

 

The following is what 4 different Income Assistance (IA)Recipients, who do not want to be identified, have told me:

IA Recipient #1: (Note: This person has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair.)What is frustrating me right now is that my Dad’s new girlfriend and her son who still lives with her , refuse to get Vaccinated, I cannot make any plans to see family. It has been over a year since the last time I saw my dad ,and I could not go to their place for Christmas again this year, for the second year in a row.

IA Recipient#2: GRRR What is frustrating myself, plus other social contacts I know through attending soup kitchens, and standing in line at the food bank these days, is all those people who are refusing to get vaccinated, are selfish. Life is hard enough as it is, and always was, even during NON-COVID times. Those refusing the Vaccine are the ones who do not care that they are making life even more difficult for us. “They are the ones who do not seem to give a shit that people in down-n-out situations have to be able to socialize with people someday.”

IA Recipient#3 : (Note: This person has a part time job where he is allowed to keep a portion of his earnings before anything he earns gets clawed back.) “Kendall, You no idea how much I am looking forward to the day when I can once again hop on a bus or Shuttle, and head home to Sydney to visit family and friends. Pre-COVID my part time work allowed me to do so approx 3X per year. Even though I got laid off on couple of occasions over the period of COVID, I was able to work through the majority of this COVID time. However, just like many in my situation, I have chosen not to see family during this time, because if I caught COVID, I was not going to put my elderly family members with health problems, or my young cousins, at risk”.

IA Recipient#4 says - “I wake up every morning wondering if today is the day that the province is finally going back into lock-down and will announce that they are going to take further action on the UN-vaccinated?” Also “I have a neighbour who lives next door to me that, in NON-COVID days, was a social contact for me. Lately I have had to cut off ties with her because of her refusal-to-get -vaccinated. Me telling her to not come near me, because she is not vaccinated, has only been getting us into Verbal Altercations.”

The number of welfare recipients that feel this way is not limited to these four IA recipients. Some people were so upset they mentioned things I shall not repeat publicly. Everyone I talked to lately all agree that these things are problems:

  • Premier Tim Houston and Dr. Robert Strang not putting the province in Full Lock-Down.

  • Those who are choosing to not get vaccinated for COVID.

  • The Current Truckers Convoy/Protests taking place in Ottawa

The above factors are all adding fuel to the fire of how IA recipients are feeling these days.

To see other interviews and information about poverty and COVID, in Nova Scotia you can look at my articles in the advocate including:






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