Canadians planning safe Thanksgiving alternatives
Nadia Lloyd started planning her family’s annual Thanksgiving gettogether months ago when COVID case numbers were under control across the country.
The gathering was supposed to be a big deal, marking the first time her family — split between Toronto and
Montreal — could spend a holiday together in nearly a year after missing Christmas to scheduling conflicts, and Easter to the global pandemic.
Once COVID cases began rising again, Lloyd, a Toronto-based artist and designer, had to shift her plans.
She was still determined to give her family a Thanksgiving celebration, even if it meant holding it three weeks early.
“Typically we do it on the weekend of like everybody else and we have a huge gathering inside, but since we were coming from different cities and my mom is almost 80, we had many reasons to be super cautious,” Lloyd said, shortly after hosting the gathering on the last weekend of September.
“It was all about catching that beautiful weather so we could enjoy the garden and enjoy each other, maybe one last time, realistically.
“We’re probably not going to see each other (again) until next spring.”
Lloyd, a face mask designer whose prints became popular after being worn by Toronto Raptors players and coaches in the NBA bubble, held the party on her 79-year-old mother’s spacious property in Belleville, Ont.
Tables were spread out to ensure physical distancing between her 15 relatives, and Lloyd’s mother, an avid gardener and cook, made traditional Haitian dishes. Others brought custom Thanksgiving staples like pumpkin pie to supplement the table spread.
“We all had two or three helpings and fell into a food coma,” Lloyd said with a laugh.
The outdoor bash was one example of how Canadians are altering Thanksgiving plans with COVID cases and pandemic concerns rising as the crisp, autumn weather sets in.
While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proclaimed Thanksgiving cancelled last week, some families are going ahead with smaller-than-usual gatherings or virtual events.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says on its website that in-person holiday gatherings can pose increased risk for contracting COVID-19. The level of risk will depend on a number of factors, including where the party is held and the prevalence of the virus in that community, how long the party lasts, and how many people are attending.
Even the social bubbles we formed over the summer are becoming increasingly problematic in parts of the country where cases are rising.
New restrictions on gatherings came into effect Thursday in three regions of Quebec, including Montreal, where having visitors to private homes is prohibited for the next four weeks. Outdoor gatherings are also banned.