It’s hard to picture it, lounging in the sun at a bar in Winnipeg this afternoon, shoulder to shoulder with strangers, sipping Heineken out of a glass a waitress has just touched, laughing and shouting and sharing air with any number of people who could potentially be sick, even if the tables are spaced a little further apart. You’d be safer on a patio in Winnipeg than in Toronto, no doubt, but would it still feel safe, all things considered? While it’s precisely the efficacy of these measures that has made Manitoba uniquely prepared to ease back into its normal routines - the province has reported fewer than 300 cases of COVID-19 out of the 60,000 or so nationwide, with no new cases announced there on Monday at all - we all know successful social distancing efforts don’t entirely eliminate risk. Manitoba more than most provinces observed that principal early on, undertaking lockdown measures swiftly and introducing tight restrictions on interprovincial travel as international cases continued to rise. Photo by Kelly Geraldine Malone/The Canadian PressĪs we endeavour to navigate this crisis and safely restore Canada to something like business as usual, our watchword is prudence. A couple orders beers on the King’s Head Pub patio in downtown Winnipeg, on May 4, 2020. But of course it isn’t worth the risk - not the risk to myself, which is arguably minimal - but certainly the risk to the more vulnerable, such as the elderly and immunocompromised. I miss enjoying a beer on a bar patio as much as anybody, and after nearly two months under quarantine, I’m desperate enough for social life and some leisure time out of the house that I might seriously consider whether a drink with friends isn’t worth the risk of illness. On the other hand it’s difficult to imagine summoning the courage, or perhaps idiocy, required to partake in such indulgence. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Who could resist an immaculate pint in the balmy midday breeze? We’ve been confined to our homes for seven weeks now - long enough to crave the warmth and conviviality of a good bar again. There is little I would rather do at the moment than lay this piece aside and head down to the pub across the street, whose drinks are overpriced and whose food is terrible, but whose patio is vast and inviting. The courtyard’s been shut down, of course, like all of the condo’s common areas, but still the gleaming sun and windless air are powerfully inviting. Ontario and Quebec announce steps towards re-opening but caution that 'normal' is still a long way offįrom the living room sofa on which I’m writing these words I can look out onto the courtyard of my Toronto condominium and see the gentle sunshine bathing the concrete and shrubbery.

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