The #COVID19 outbreak at #RebeccaTowers is a microcosm of what's wrong in Ontario during the pandemic, and worth unpacking a bit. 1/ https://twitter.com/RebeccaTenants/status/1391797915459457026

First of all, the threshold for mass vaccination in a large multires building like this shouldn't be 103 cases. It should be an order of magnitude lower. 2/

But Hamilton Public Health probably isn't *allowed* to vaccinate everyone in the building, because L8R hasn't been declared a hotspot, despite a very high prevalence and a 12.4% test positivity rate. 3/

That L8R hasn't been declared a hotspot very likely has to do with Doug Ford's personal antipathy towards @AndreaHorwath, in whose riding it is located. 4/

The mechanism of person-to-person spread is likely aerosol transmission, either in the single shared elevator or through the (probably inadequate) ventilation system. 5/

And this issue has not been explored, because of our (now belatedly and slowly changing) conspiracy of silence about aerosol transmission. 6/

The reason why there is only a single working elevator is that the other one was closed for replacement in January, although it was apparently working just fine. 7/

Given that this building historically had fairly low rents and rental housing prices have recently risen dramatically, it is quite likely that the purpose for the elevator replacement was to justify an application for an above-guideline rent increase. 8/

The major point of which would be to displace financially precarious tenants (during a pandemic) and allow rents to be reset to market rate. 9/

In this situation, the inconvenience of a single elevator would be a feature (not a bug) for the landowner. 10/

To the extent that the Covid outbreak might lead some tenants to terminate their leases, that would also be a feature, not a bug. 11/

Finally, this building is home to a large number of racialized and immigrant people, essential workers, and people with disabilities. 12/

(Groups that have been consistently and deliberately put in harm's way during this pandemic by political decisions that prioritize private economic interests over human lives.) 13/

The residents of this building deserve better than victim-blaming. 14/

I'm sure there are more lenses here that I've overlooked, but this is enough to get started. 15/

All of these phenomena are widespread in Ontario. Their intersection has created this outbreak, and they all need to be addressed. The solutions are inherently political. 16/16