On Monday, B.C. announced the extension of all COVID-19 measures through the May long weekend. Alberta hardly lifted their restraints. Manitoba expanded their restrictions amid the third wave as well.
So far through the pandemic, Saskatchewan and our southeast corner felt like a safer island of relative freedom. Yes, we also had masks and bubbles, but it still was way better than what my friends experienced in B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.
Many places that are shut down almost everywhere else have remained open here lately. Even though I quit doing nails after the first wave (I'll never forget those Panda's claws I grew back then), I was able to have many other services in my life. I kept up with my indoor sport routine through the fall, winter and into the spring.
I could go shopping not only for what I needed but also for what I wanted. I could choose to eat out or order food to go. I could watch a movie in a theatre and do a lot of other things people in other provinces and places couldn't.
All that was our southeast Saskatchewan COVID reality, and we also hardly had any active cases. Until recently.
I assume numerous factors tilted our boat. Spring is known to be the season for viral disease. The mutated and more contagious variants of COVID-19 also didn't help. The relative freedom of indoor gatherings probably also added to the picture. And here we are, in the middle of the third wave.
I guess the hardest hit was when kids were sent home for online learning. It's tough on the students, it's tough on the teachers, it's tough on working parents, and I'm afraid it will be tough in the future when these kids will lack the knowledge that fell into the cracks of the pandemic-style education.
It wasn't anyone's preference, and it was also done for everyone's safety, and it had to be done, but all that doesn't make it much easier.
In general, our restrictions are still softer and are due for review on April 26. Originally I was pretty confident that students would return to schools if not on that day, then a bit later. Back then it seemed that we would be able to curve the wave down in a matter of three weeks. The weather was so beautiful, and it was hard to believe that it was COVID season again. And I was sure kids would soon get back to in-person learning.
But as time goes by and every COVID-19 report so far keeps bringing in steady high numbers, my optimism is dissolving. We are still doing better than many other places, but we are doing worse than ourselves, which is sad.
As I'm writing this column, I don't know what this week will bring in the sense of further announcements. But I know that I'm not that confident about how the rest of the school year will look like anymore. I still have a glimpse of hope that if not by next Monday, then in a couple more weeks we will be out enjoying our little free island again with kids spending time with friends at school and not the gadgets in their rooms, with probably small, but still joyful bubbles comprised of our loved ones and with just a sense of some kind of normality.
However, with the current caseload, I don't see how it can be done safely and in a way that we don't raise the numbers even further, thus overloading the healthcare system.
There is also another concern that I have in the back of my mind. My city of origin along with the rest of Russia is now going through the wave of secondary cases. People who had COVID-19 early on in the pandemic are now getting sick again. And quite often I hear that the second case is no different from the first one. They do have vaccines available for everyone free of charge.
However, I'm assuming those who had the virus before often hope for longer immunity and don't get artificially immunized in time to prevent second exposure. And it's hard to judge yet, how much vaccination has changed anything there.
On the other hand, the progress with vaccination in Saskatchewan is something that brings my optimism back a bit. There is progress. Again, compared to other places we are moving forward not too fast but at least steadily, and hopefully fast enough to get the majority immunized before the next viral season comes.
I really hope that mass vaccination will become the solution. We are ready to open a new page, where COVID-19 is still probably the reality, but at least is a tamed one.
We are yet to see how different vaccines affect the situation. But it seems that the "adventure" we found ourselves in may end up being way longer and way more complicated than most of us originally assumed.
