Pandemic Chapter 2

 September 30, 2020

Who knew seven months ago when I first thought of blogging my experience with the coronavirus pandemic, that I would still be at it now, with no end in sight. I call this Chapter 2 because in my creative mind, the first blog was getting long and I thought I might refer to it as Chapter 1. How many chapters will there be? Who knows, but I do not want to start using the fingers on my second hand.

We are now into what is being suggested is the second wave, although no one is sure about that. Worldwide, the death toll now exceeds 1 million, with the USA having over 200,000, but President Trump is quite sure they have it all under control. In B.C., schools reopened after Labour Day and that alone was expected to increase the infection numbers. While numbers are increasing, with daily totals of over 100, and sometimes closer to 150, compared to single digits just a few months ago, I do not think you can directly link that to the schools. The biggest increases, both here and around the world is with young people in the 20 to 40 year old range. They seem to be oblivious to the pandemic, partying at close quarters without any masks, despite not only warnings, but heavy fines for disobeying regulations. They have the attitude that even if they catch the virus, it has not been particularly deadly for their age group. That said, many who have caught the virus attest to the severe side effects, and possible long term health issues they face. Our own dentist was recently featured on the news program, W5. He was one of the early people to catch the virus at a dental convention in Vancouver in February. He spent months in the hospital on a respirator, and the risk of dying was very real and close. He survived and recently returned to work part time. I saw him the day before the W5 airing. He was a very fit, active individual. Now he was very thin had to endure speech therapy, physio to regain strength to his limbs, etc. 

After a summer of people opening up their "bubble" to see more friends and family, preferably in outdoor settings, our Dr. Henry is now asking people to take a step back and close their bubble, limiting it to very small groups. 

Face masks have been an issue. While the BC government has been reluctant to mandate masks, other jurisdictions have mandated the wearing of cloth face masks in public settings where social distancing can not be reasonably attained. Dr. Henry said early on that masks were only one tool in our prevention kit, and not a highly effect one compared to social distancing, and frequently washing hands. As time progressed, it has suddenly become a very important tool, particularly as scientists feels the virus spreads mostly through airborne particles. We used to sterilize all our groceries before putting them away. This now seems irrelevant. The Superstore grocery chain mandated the wearing of masks for all its customers, and said they would wipe down and sterilize all buggies before use. Despite that, there are still always customers without masks and there is no enforcement. A few may be people who would be exempt because they have health issues that prevent the wearing of masks, but it is so hard to not judge young men with smug faces, muscle shirts and tattoos everywhere walking around without masks. I have failed miserably. I do judge them. Today, perhaps 5 to 10 people I see are maskless in Superstore, an improvement from the past. However, there are very few if any sterilized buggies any more and no one manning the sanitation station. In some places, like the local mall, there are very few masks despite the daily pleas on news reports.

News reports suggest most of us are stressed and our mental health is a major concern the longer the pandemic goes on. If you were to ask me, I would probably say, perhaps with a little guilt, that I am not stressed. I am ok staying home most of the time. We shop only as needed, which I like, we see our kids and grandchild very regularly, and we have a few friends we see every week or two. Over the summer we expanded this a little. However, I just rescheduled out January trip to Bonaire to 2022, and every night we watch househunter shows and lament the fact that we really want to be on a sandy beach somewhere. It is also difficult to manage how we interact with family in particular. As the weather becomes cool and outdoor visits end, it is difficult to cope with not wanting to compromise our health by seeing some family members, particularly if they have not fully bought into the pandemic guidelines. Obviously we would love to visit with them, but feel compelled not too, and at the same time do not want to offend them. With more and more connections expanding between people because of teachers or kids being in school or at work, it is become more important to limit contact. It will take some time to work out. Meanwhile, my only hope is that this is truly the second wave, and that there is no third wave. In Quebec they are asking people to all stay home with no outside contact for 28 days, in the hope that this would eliminate much of the virus. Their numbers each day are out of control right now.

One other note. We are facing a provincial election in October despite the government having a mandate until 2021. They want to take advantage of their popularity right now because of their handling of the pandemic so they can gain a majority. This might have been the first time I would have voted for an NDP government because they have done well these past 7 months, but this disgusts me. They lost my vote. This is not the time! In the south, The USA  will have an election in November. Donald Trump says no one has ever done as good a job as he has, (no credit to his caucus), and their economy is the best it has ever been. Their handling of the pandemic has been the best in the world, (lets forget about the 200,000 dead because for some reason, he said there would have been 2 million dead if he wasn't in charge). His opponent, Joe Biden said Donald is the worst president the US has ever had? Who do you believe? I think I know.

October 20

Thanksgiving has come and gone and much like it looks like Christmas will be, it was a small affair. We turned down an invitation for a large family dinner, as did most of the family and we had dinner with our usual little bubble of ourselves, our daughters and son-in-law, and grandson. One addition was my brother who was spending a month here from Toronto, experimenting with teleworking, since he has not been in his studio office, (he works for a TV show), since before the pandemic started. He hopes to explore going somewhere warm after this, probably in the Caribbean, and work from "home" there. We had a good time together but without the usual events of Thanksgiving, it did feel different.

We are now less than a week away for the provincial election day. Like a large percentage of the voters, we chose to go to the advance polls rather than face the crowds on election day, with the pandemic's second wave in full swing. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to count the ballots and get a final result. I have never seen an election like this. Unlike some other areas, our riding had not one candidate lawn signs anywhere. In fact, we had no idea who our candidates are. Joanie looked online to see what riding we were in and who was running. The boundary lines are a little strange, so we had the riding wrong. When we go to the polling station, we found the riding was not the one we thought, but it didn't matter. The only name on the ballot was the incumbent, the Liberal party candidate. There were blank lines to fill in the rest. Even their own candidates were not ready for an election. Despite voting, I still don't know who the other candidates are. Never seen anything like it. And after this fiasco, we get to witness the disastrous election in the USA in early November. 

I listened with interest to a prominent doctor from Sweden on the radio this morning. Sweden did not shut down their economy when the pandemic hit, and even to this day rejects the notion of wearing face masks. Supposedly their strategy was to let people catch the virus and get antibodies so they could battle the virus and get rid of it. It was questioned whether this was actual strategy or a reaction to being unprepared for a pandemic. Sweden is often used as an example by those who are more concerned with economics that battling the pandemic. Results have shown that Sweden to date has the highest death rate per capital due to corona, even though the vast majority are seniors. So lives were sacrificed. However, compared to other Nordic countries, their economy is worse than those that did shut down for a time. I heard that even though businesses tried to operate, it was impossible to get supplies, or ship goods when neighbouring countries were shut down, so they did not benefit and people died in the meantime.

Dr. Bonnie Henry declared that our province is in full second wave now. How long that lasts is anyone's guess. It has gotten easier though. Not only is there Sunday night, Monday night and Thursday night football (the usual games I watch), but outbreaks on some teams has caused games to be rescheduled and already there was a game on Tuesday. I miss the CFL but NFL is a good distraction. Plus, we are never tempted to go to the mall to just shop around. I'm good with that. 

November 17

We are now over half way through a two week emergency measure to try and slow down a spike in new covid infections. Every day the province is setting a new record for new cases here as well as across the country. The USA is another matter as it spirals out of control due to the recently defeated president Trump who refuses to acknowledge not only the measures the rest of the world has recognized for fighting this pandemic, but he even won't recognize the election results which must be rigged because he lost. What a disaster! I am staying out of that country! 

For this two week period, people are asked to stay home as much as possible, not visit with anyone outside of their home residents or small bubble, travel only for essential business, and not go outside of the health region you live in. The usual hand sanitizing and mask wearing also applies. Driving past the local mall on Saturday, it seemed everyone was ignoring Dr. Henry. The roads were jammed, parking lots were full. My own sister went to Vancouver Island for the weekend, ignoring the travel restrictions. Next week we will see if numbers start to decline, or if more measures will be put in place. My brother from Toronto has been staying in the lower mainland working online and hopes to continue that by going to the Caribbean for the rest of the winter. He got a hotel in Barbados where he must quarantine for 2 weeks on arrival. He may leave his room for short periods of time every day, where others are not around, and his meals will be sent to his room. He can enjoy the weather on his balcony. After that, he is free to go wherever and may even travel to other islands without need to quarantine. Not a bad way to work under the circumstances.

However, all is not bad. This past week two drug companies announced that they have developed vaccines which have tested effective over 90% of their test patients, and new hope exists that by Spring 2021, we may have vaccines in place to combat this virus. That will change everything. Already, I got an email saying that Southern Africa is now open for safaris again. One can only hope that is a reality!

While some people, a few family members included, still seem to poo-ha the pandemic and write it off as a hoax or nothing more than a flu, the dead bodies piling up around the world and the millions of sick people overrunning hospitals would suggest otherwise. Even Donald Trump said the pandemic was a hoax created to undermine his presidency, (as though the entire world revolved around him), and would be over after the election, while weeks later the death toll in the US continues to climb.

There is such a longing to return to normal, but no one knows what the new normal will be. For now, I would personally settle for seeing friends again without restriction and traveling where every I please without having to quarantine. It is pretty clear that Christmas will not involve family gatherings or community Christmas events. Humbug!