It’s starting to look a lot like … last year.
Festive feasts, gift-giving and winter fun with loved ones are canceled or limited as COVID-19 ravages Canada for the second consecutive holiday season, the highly transmissible variant of Omicron leading to increased caution.
Still, some are moving forward with plans to celebrate, weighing the risk of contracting the disease or relying on vaccinations to ensure safety.
“Literally last Christmas we kept all the blinds closed because we didn’t want anyone to see we were having dinner because we weren’t allowed,” Patricia MacDowell said on the phone from her home in Montreal as she stuffed a turkey into preparing for New Years Eve dinner.
MacDowell is not vaccinated against COVID-19. She said she has on her mother, her nephew and her partner, all of whom are vaccinated.
With the Omicron variant causing a high number of cases across the country, MacDowell said she was not worried because she was in good health.
It’s just common sense, she said – people should stay home if they are sick and not give in to fear.
“At least now we can leave the curtains open. While we eat, we won’t feel like criminals.”
Toronto-based Dr Naheed Dosani said it was “part of his duty” as a frontline worker to forgo another year of in-person celebrations with extended family and friends to protect the health of the community.
“As someone who provided care to people who have dealt with COVID-19, who have been very ill with COVID-19 and who have died from COVID-19, it was a decision that was very natural for me, ”Dosani said.
More than 30,000 Canadians have died from COVID-19, more than two-thirds of whom were residents of Quebec and Ontario. Nearly two million people have contracted the virus since the start of the pandemic in early 2020.
“We’ve come so far and sacrificed so much that right now the decision to put vacation plans on hold is the right thing to do,” Dosani said, warning that the Omicron variant could overwhelm healthcare systems. which are already limited in resources.
The doctor announced on social media that he was canceling his vacation plans and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. But some have expressed opposition to missing another year of lore, citing vaccinations or negative tests as precautions.
Dosani said the next few weeks are key to pushing back the current wave of infections. If people follow public health advice, then Canadians will be able to “weather the storm”.
Warnings have been issued by the country’s top doctors to ditch large gatherings for small bubbles during the holidays. Public health restrictions vary by province or territory.
“With Christmas Eve (today) and Kwanzaa starting on Sunday, I would like to reiterate my encouragement to all Albertans to cut their in-person social contact by at least half over the holidays,” the medical officer of health said. Chief of Alberta Dr. Deena Hinshaw on Thursday.
“Our family canceled our in-person meeting even though it would have been according to current rules. I think the situation is so serious.”
Canada’s two largest provinces reported a record number of COVID-19 cases on Thursday. Quebec had 9,397 new cases and Ontario 5,790.
Quebec allows groups of 10 to get together for Christmas, but on Boxing Day, the size of the gatherings will be reduced to six people or two family bubbles.
Indoor gatherings in Ontario are limited to 10 people. And in Alberta, 10 adults can get together, with no limit on the number of children.
The federal government earlier this month advised against international travel.
Toronto publicist Tracy Lamourie said she is planning a girls’ trip with her mother to the Mediterranean island of Malta for January. They are doubly vaccinated and she is not worried about the virus, but said that with the uncertainty of flights and changing restrictions around the world, they would likely delay the holidays.
“We haven’t quite canceled it yet and we still hope there will be some good news,” she said in an email.
“It’s the possibility of flights being canceled and air travel being stranded, stranding us far from home that is the most frightening.
“It’s like we’re back in March 2020… and it’s hard to manage.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on December 24, 2021.
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