The announcement has come that we are continuing the quarantine measures until the end of May. Our provincial government is extended the measures two weeks at a time. I engaged in a good debate two weeks back about the merits of short closures versus long closures. Several provinces have already announced that schools will not be back in before September. The argument has been made that people need to some sense of stability, the ability to make plans, to get their minds settled around what life is going to look like. Leaders have taken the standpoint that the reality is school is not likely to be able to be back by June, and so just call it now.
I suppose Ontario is choosing to leave a bit of hope with us, in exchange for uncertainty. I haven't come down on which side is better. As a teacher I would rather know what I'm planning for for the next two months, but to be honest, if things changed quickly, why not get back to life?
We keep a less vigilant eye on the numbers these days, checking in one every three or four days to see the numbers climb. Worldometer.com is my go-to place. It seems to be a fairly neutral counting website, displaying the numbers of cases and deaths and tests per country, but also breaking the numbers down by millions of population. A tricky thing to count numbers these days, as we hear about the variants in who can get tested, and the dispute between a dying of Covid-19, or a Covid-related death. Current numbers stand at: 3.3 million cases, and 240,000 deaths. The epicentres of Spain, Italy, the UK, France and New York don't show much signs of slowing.
The frigid spring we've been experiencing is beginning to break. 18C and sunny for both weekend days coming up. I can't help but wonder if people will start to break out of their homes more and more.
A funny concept emerged this week out of Manitoba: a 2 bubble family. The idea is that rather than simply being alone, two families can decide to create a family bubble between them. It can only involve two families, meaning you can't daisy chain to others. We have our best friends who live nearby, and so it was easy to "pick" our family, if it came to that. But we joked about buffing up family resumes, or a reality show based on who you'd choose. The reality is a little more bleak: I'm not sure people can handle the grade school elementary antics of being left out in such a way.
Governments are starting to release their plans to restart life and the economy. They are plans that go in reverse from how we shut down, with long stretches in between to monitor numbers. All in all, it makes sense to me. The longer this goes on, the louder the conspiracy voices get, but my limited understanding of the medical world tells me that pandemics happen. I don't think this one is as bad as they thought, and it certainly isn't what the 1918 flu pandemic was.
One thing I haven't touched on yet is church. Early on all church services were suspended, given that they are large gatherings. Many churches have moved quickly to an online format, with pastors delivering sermons either through al I've stream or pre-recorded sessions. We have simply moved to having a simple service in our own home. I strum the guitar as we sing a few hymns. We pass the sacramental bread and water. Then we have a short reading from scripture and a discussion of the passage together. The youth groups and the adult groups are holding bi-weekly zoom meetings. Sometimes they consist of a more formal Sunday school lesson, and sometimes they are simply to check in with each other. For special Sunday services (Easter in the past, and Mother's Day and Father's Day coming up) we have members pre-record a talk or a spiritual thought or a musical number and upload it to a YouTube channel playlist. We then play it during our own family Sunday service. It is pleasant to hear the thoughts and ideas of our friends for something different.
Zoom is an online virtual meeting platform that has taken off. By offering its full package free of charge during this time, everyone everywhere made an account. Church services, business meetings, school classes, theatre rehearsals - everyone has jumped on. What I think it has really highlighted, though, is how woefully inadequate the medium is. While it works to convey information, the reality of the format, the internet lag, and the inability to have a truly organic conversation just leaves me feeling like it's more trouble than it's worth.
We are trying to be very conscious of having the screens off the entire afternoon. The result this week has been some excellent snake hunting (and finding), as well as avoiding being the hunted ourselves. While exploring the conservation out back I suppose we wandered a little too close to some private land, and Ben and I observed a man fetching his hunting rifle from the back of his car parked in the middle of a large field. I discovered back at home that this week is wild turkey hunting week. Hunting is banned from June 1 to September 30, so until then we will have to stay a little closer to home.
But our little idyll behind the home is providing endless hours of nature education and fun for the kids and adults alike. A cool stream, garden snakes, climbing trees, smart coyotes and a hole-in-the-hen-house fence (stolen eggs, the evidence left brazenly behind the fence), old bleached bones, swimming water-spiders, and evening fires are filling the days. As the weather warms I hope the kids discover the joy that the freedom of the forest and the freedom from adult eyes and ears can give.
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