You can put on a brave face and look at the bright side until the cows come home, but there's no denying that COVID-19 has made life worse for many people.

Premier Doug Ford, optimistic as he may be, admitted as much in a frustrated diatribe during his daily pandemic press conference on Wednesday when asked about the reactions of gym and restaurant owners who feel unfairly targeted by the province's new "modified Stage 2" restrictions in Toronto, Peel and Ottawa.

"You know what's unfair? COVID's unfair?" said Ford during his Q&A period after announcing that Ontario would be hiring hundreds of new contract tracers and case managers to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. "It's just nasty, this virus."

Premier Ford and Minister Elliott make an Announcement https://t.co/j2HbWtIRl5

— Doug Ford (@fordnation) October 14, 2020

Ford went on to express his sadness over people being unable to visit their loved ones in long-term care homes and about "poor business owners that are struggling."

"This is just a crappy situation — sorry for the language — just a lousy, lousy situation," said Ford. "But we're going to get through it. We're going to win. We're going to fight this battle with everything we have…. and in certain areas we are winning, so folks, let's stick together."

Later on in the presser, Ford conceded that said folks (or at least the ones who started acting like the pandemic was over in August) are likely to blame for the swift emergence of the pandemic's second wave.

"I think all of us let our guards up a little bit. We saw the cases go down…. overall we were seeing under 100 cases with over 14.5 million people," said the premier. "And all of the sudden everyone got a little lackadaisical and now we're paying for it."

"I think I've come up here a hundred times and said it's gunna bite us back in the butt if we don't tighten things up, so I just ask people, let's tighten it up," said Ford. "Let's bring the numbers down and that will resolve a lot of issues."

Unlike his Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Williams, however, Ford didn't place the blame squarely on young, party-happy Ontario residents. Rather, he pointed to the overall toughness of a situation that none of us expected to be in.

"This is just a crappy situation, just a lousy, lousy situation," Premier Doug Ford.

He says COVID-19 is "unfair" to all. #onpoli

— Colin D'Mello CTVNews (@ColinDMello) October 14, 2020

Health Minister Christine Elliott agreed that "some people let their guard down a little bit too much," but focused on the importance of going back to "those basic principles that we talk about every day."

"Physical distancing, wearing a face covering, washing hands thoroughly — all of those things are the most important things that each and any one of us can do to get those numbers down," she said on Wednesday.

"I would ask for all Ontarians help with this... we're all in this together, all 14.5 million of us, so please help with this and we'll be able to lower those numbers and get the hot spots out of being hot spots."