Hallowe'en is going to be different this covid year, as will Remembrance Day, Christmas and New Year's. (Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay)
Thanksgiving has always been there, as has Hallowe’en. And Remembrance Day, Christmas and New Year’s. But what will they mean this year, without family?
This is the year we’re going to discover what we’ve been taking for granted all our lives: the importance of being around the people we love, eating an indulgent meal or traditional sweets, and bringing together the young and old for fun and games.
Summer holidays are for getting away – they don’t traditionally come with turkey dinners, colourful lights or jack-o-lanterns. But winter holidays are for snuggling down with family, singing songs, building puzzles, and drinking hot drinks. This year, many of those things will not be possible, at least not together.
As Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “this sucks. It really, really does.”
But, being resilient humans, we will find a way to make these winter holidays meaningful, even if we can’t get together with our parents, grandparents and extended family in person. It’s going to take some creativity, but we can do it. I’d love to hear your ideas.
B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry suggested a candy slide for a physically distanced Hallowe’en. Since then, she has said clearly that Hallowe’en parties are out and trick-or-treating groups must be small.
Dr. Henry, who served in the military, said this year’s Remembrance Day poppy campaigns will mostly be virtual this year and ceremonies will be smaller and physically distanced. Elderly veterans are being encouraged to participate virtually.
Christmas and New Year’s will have to wait and see.
Meanwhile, the pandemic is surging throughout Europe, the United States and Canada, where there have been 10,000 deaths. Even British Columbia had a “sobering weekend,” as Dr. Henry called it, with more than 800 new cases over three days.
She brought in a new order – no more than six guests can visit a person’s home – and called for everyone to wear masks in indoor public spaces. She reiterated that a person's “safe six” needs to be the same safe six all the time, not a rotating list. She also made a “strong recommendation” that people in the Fraser Health region socialize only with their immediate household members.
More than 5,000 people in B.C. are now self-isolating, which means they can’t go to work or school and must stay home and wait and hope the symptoms of covid-19 don’t appear.
Around the world, there have been more than 45 million covid-19 cases and more than one million deaths. Every day there are more than half a million new cases.
“We are going into a very challenging and difficult few months and we know that because we have seen what has gone on around the rest of the world,” Dr. Henry says.
Here’s what’s happened over the past week:
- Hospitals across Europe and North America are starting to fill up as the second wave of covid-19 crashes over us. France is in lockdown and hospitalizations are rising fast in Germany and in rural America. On the plus side, survival rates from covid-19 are going up.
- The BC NDP handily won re-election last weekend, although the exact counts and some close races won’t be determined until the mail-in votes are counted. Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson announced his resignation.
- Two schools in B.C. have been closed because of covid-19 exposures, Mount Cheam Christian School in Chilliwack and École de l’Anse-au-sable in Kelowna. The first in-school outbreak was earlier declared at the Kelowna school and is now up to 11 cases, Dr. Henry said. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the schools are small and they can no longer safely operate because of the number of people who have to self-isolate. They will be closed for one incubation period, which is generally a two-week period. Since last Friday, B.C. schools have had at least 51 covid-19 exposures, a number that is growing every week. In Surrey alone, there were 23 exposures reported in the past five days and in Vancouver there were 17.
- Immunity from covid-19 may not be long lasting, a new British study found, Reuters reports.
- The first World Series was played with covid-19 protocols. Players were in a bubble with their families at a hotel and ballpark in Texas. During the last game, in the eighth inning, third baseman Justin Turner was pulled from the game. He’s one of the stars of the winning team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, so it was very odd indeed that he was pulled. They won the game and Turner was nowhere to be seen in the celebration. Later it was announced that he tested positive for covid-19 during the game. Even later, he joined the celebration and was seen at some points with his mask off.
- I had my first dental cleaning since covid-19 hit. It was a strange experience and it felt a little like an astronaut was cleaning my teeth in the middle of a construction site. Each dental cubicle was separated off with plastic sheeting, of the sort normally used in house painting. The dental hygienist placed a vacuum-like hose near my face to catch any aerosols. As I said, it was a strange experience. My teeth and gums will thank me though, and, yes, I had no cavities.
- Artificial intelligence can detect asymptomatic covid-19 infections through cellphone-recorded coughs, MIT reports.
- Sexually transmitted diseases have fallen sharply in the pandemic, but experts think it’s possible they’re just not being detected, the New York Times reports.
- A rise in murders is being pinned on covid, the New York Times reports. From the story: “Criminologists studying the rise in the murder rate point to the effects the pandemic has had on everything from mental health to policing in a time of social distancing, with fewer officers able to perform the up-close-and-personal community outreach work that in normal times has helped mitigate violence.”
Hallowe’en is tomorrow night. Look out for the kiddies and stay safe.
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