December 17, 2021 Omicron

Omicron – sounds like a villain from the Transformers.  Instead, it’s a villain of a different kind.

A viral kind. 

We are all so tired of hearing about covid and its seemingly endless variety of variants. It has been almost two years since we first heard about the coronavirus covid19. I know two years ago if anyone had told me that we would need to be vaccinated to enter the Black Forest Lodge at Big White Ski Resort, I would have laughed at them and called them insane. Maybe even called them conspiracy theorists. I certainly wouldn’t believe it could be real.

Now it is far too real.

The newest fear is the Omicron Variant. A variant named for the 15th letter in the Greek alphabet. I still think it is far too close to a name for a Transformer. Regardless of what you call it, this newest covid scare has caused a reaction from the experts.

Now we are being told to STAY HOME and not travel – again. But they still don’t know what effects that the new variant will have. Like it has done for the last 19 months our health care system is reacting to the worst-case scenario.

The province of BC has announced new measures aimed at restricting the spread of the new variant. Even among those that are fully vaccinated.

The measures are scheduled to remain throughout the month of January, including new size limits for personal gatherings, stricter rules for dining at restaurants, and the expansion of vaccine passport requirements.

The province is also bringing back a 50 percent capacity limit for larger venues, pausing sports tournaments, and suspending organized New Year’s Eve gatherings of any size.

Happy New Year everyone.

I’m sure glad we are leaving Canada for New Year’s Eve. I know they are recommending against travel. But at this point, we are not changing our plan to go to Cabo San Lucas for New Years. 

Life is too short.

My daughter already missed a trip of a lifetime to Europe because of Covid. I missed my fiftieth birthday – twice. Because of Covid. 

Not again.

I understand the reason for the fear and the worry. I understand why the experts want to protect the health care system, But over eighty percent of us are vaccinated, and the people getting sick are unvaccinated. I will not stop living my life because there are still a number of people that refuse to protect themselves. Even though I understand many of their reasons to not get the vaccine. There is only one thing to do.

Stay home and stay safe. 

I’m still going to Mexico and I am still going to go out for dinner. 

The last two years have been very hard on our youth and on our elderly. Will the price we have paid to battle this viral foe be higher than the cost of the disease itself?

We will never know.

The only thing we can all do is be kind to each other. Respect each other and take care of each other. The rest we will have to leave up to the experts…