Thought of the Day - December 22 2021 - Shutting Down for the Holidays

You know it's a bad sign when Israel bans flights from Canada.

There are still no updated figures, released by Health Canada, concerning Omicron prevalence. But, given Biden stated yesterday that Omicron has now taken over as the dominant variant in the US, and given Canada's daily new case numbers are now the highest we have ever seen, it is fair to assume that we may be in the same situation.

Following on from last week's Federal travel response ( Thought of the Day - December 17 2021 - No More Holiday Travel ), one by one the provinces have countered by restricting social activities for the holidays. Quebec, who led the country into the fifth wave and is now reporting almost twice as many new daily cases than at any time in the past, announced at the beginning of the week “We are closing bars, casinos, movie theatres and performance venues. Tele-working is now mandatory. Restaurants can be open only between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m. Sports performances, professional or amateur, will have to be behind closed doors. We are also closing gyms and spas with the exception of personal care. Regarding schools, we are closing elementary and high school as well as adult centers. However, we will keep elementary schools accessible until the holiday break to continue the distribution of rapid tests and the vaccination campaign only.”

As new case records were broken in the province, BC announced it will follow suit tomorrow. Cancelling all indoor gatherings regardless of size for at least the next twenty-six days. This means no Christmas parties, no weddings and no receptions. Bars, nightclubs, gyms, fitness studios, dance studios will all be closed. Restaurants, pubs and cafes remain open, but table size is capped at six. All organized indoor events are restricted to the vaccinated only.

Personal indoor gatherings are limited to your household plus one other vaccinated household or 10 vaccinated guests. Sports tournaments remain cancelled, as are organized New Year’s Eve parties (seated New Year’s Eve events can still go ahead with a 50 percent capacity limit).

Things continue to look good concerning Omicron virality. However, there will still be a small percentage of people who have complications. With the increase in cases, it is thought there will be an influx of people into hospitals across the country by the end of the year. As of January 4th BC will be cancelling scheduled surgeries. As mentioned last week, I am sure BC is also aggressively discharging patients in order to free up hospital beds. Both of these are designed to decrease potential pressure on the medical system going into 2022.

Stay tuned, there will be much more to come, on Omicron, on the approaches taken by other countries, as well as further announcements here at home.

Cheers

Cliff