Holidays are ‘going to be hard’
Staying home for Christmas called the safest thing to do
The province’s request that Ontarians only gather for the holidays with their own households will be difficult for people, but it’s the right thing to do, says Niagara’s acting medical officer of health.
Dr. Mustafa Hirji said the province has been asking people to cut down on social contacts and limit their social interactions to their own households for close to two months, so it makes sense that guidance would continue through Christmas, with current COVID-19 case counts.
“It’s going to be very hard, especially since I think a lot of people probably celebrated Thanksgiving that way and hoped things would be better for Christmas,” Hirji said, adding in many parts of Ontario it’s not looking like the numbers will be that much more promising by Dec. 25.
“The good news is that we do have vaccines coming. It’s unfortunately perhaps going to be that this Christmas we can’t have our normal celebrations, but hopefully by next year we’ll be back in a place where we can have those celebrations.
“It’s important that with a vaccine so close, we pull together, just keep this up for a few more months, so we can save some more lives.”
Under the province’s colourcoded COVID-19 response framework, Niagara is classified at the Orange-Restrict level.
The status means the limit for indoor social gatherings in
Niagara is 10 people. Outdoor gatherings are limited to 25.
But Premier Doug Ford urged Ontarians on Wednesday to only celebrate with the people they live with, and not have big holiday parties and large gatherings.
“We’re in the second wave of COVID-19 and we can’t take any chances. We have to bend the curve and stop the spread of this awful virus,” Ford said.
“Each of us has a role to play. The safest way for any of us to enjoy the holidays, no matter where we live in the province, is to celebrate with our own households.”
With families starting to make plans for Christmas or Hanukkah, he said, the province wanted to provide the health and safety guidance now.
Individuals who live alone are being told they can join one additional household so they are not isolated.
Those living away from home, like college or university students, are being asked to selfquarantine or reduce close contact with others for 10 to 14 days before going home.
The province is suggesting people hold virtual holiday events with family who don’t live with them, friends and coworkers rather than organizing in-person celebrations.
Hirji said the province’s holiday advice to limit contacts is a key message everyone should follow right now. If everybody did it, he said, the situation could change by Christmas.
“If we limit our social contacts to our households, we could actually bring COVID-19 down and if we do it right now we could actually get it much lower by the time Christmas rolls around and there could be some opportunity even to relax that for the Christmas holidays,” Hirji said.
“I think our sense is that since it hasn’t worked over the past eight weeks, it’s probably not going to happen over the next four. But if people somehow pull together, I think that could actually really make a big difference over the next few weeks,” he added.