March 19, 2021
It's hard to believe we've just passed the one year mark since this global pandemic was declared. When this all started, it felt like a dream. Despite panic grocery shopping and immediately working from home, COVID did not feel real me. But it sure does now. We've had multiple lock downs, a province-wide "stay-at-home" order, and we seem to be on the precipice of the third wave in Ontario. I know people who've had COVID, people who've lost their jobs, people who were separated from loved ones in different countries for months at a time. I've seen restaurants boarded up that were thriving pre-pandemic. And I am well aware that these are a fraction of the plights that people have faced over the past year.
Even for those who haven't haven't been physically sick or faced financial hardship, everyone's mental health seems to have deteriorated to some extent over the past year. Living within a pandemic seems to have raised most people's baseline stress level that much more. I can't count the number of times I've had phone calls with friends and we commiserate how meh, blah, down, sad, irritable, and anxious we feel. Everyone just seems to get it, because we're all living it. During the pandemic, there is so much uncertainty and lack of predictability, which many of us cling to.
Despite the challenges that people are experiencing on a daily basis I am ever impressed by people's resilience and ability to maintain connection over the past year. Backyard BBQs and bonfires, garage meals, park picnics, walks all winter long, weekly virtual yoga, phone calls, group Zoom calls, Zoom dance parties, watching synced movies together from different countries, to name a few. I keep hearing about people being in more frequent contact with friends from other cities and countries, because video calls have become the norm; socializing with local versus remote friends isn't any different anymore. Many services are now virtual, making them much more accessible to people who are unable to easily get around or who live in remote areas.
I think the fact that we now have 4 approved vaccines in Canada is amazing! The other day a friend said she thinks that knowing vaccines were on the way helped us get through this winter. I definitely agree. Winter is always cold and dark and people's mood generally seems to drop. That, plus the social isolation of COVID, is a lot to handle. The vaccine was the light at the end of the tunnel this winter. People are continuing to complain about the slow roll out in Canada, but I think it's pretty damn cool that as of now 7.76% of the Canadian population has received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine. That's more than 2.9 million people! A year ago COVID barely felt real to many of us and only one year later 2.9 people have received the vaccine! THAT IS SUPER COOL. Currently, the CDC says that fully vaccinated people can gather indoors without physical distancing or wearing masks with other people who are fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people from one other household. So we are that much closer to being able to hug our loved ones. I AM THRILLED!
This is certainly a year to remember. It's probably been the year of the most changes in my life so far. And everything happened in the context of COVID. I look forward to the day where we can sit around the dining table with family and friends - not socially distanced, no masks, no limits on numbers - and the COVID-19 pandemic is a distant memory. Fingers crossed that we can achieve that herd immunity we so desperately need. Spring is around the corner, so soon we'll once again be able to frolic in the sunshine and socialize in a manner that helps us fight against this third wave!
Take care out there!
- Roo