CANCELLED WORLDS JUST ONE OF EINARSON’S CHALLENGES
Manitoba skip works at care facility where danger of contracting virus is top of mind
The 2020 world curling championships have gone from indefinitely postponed to outright cancelled because of the pandemic.
That means whatever hope Manitoba’s Kerri Einarson held to chase her first world title as the Canadian champion is dashed.
“I wasn’t really trying to get my hopes up about it,” Einarson said from her home in Gimli on Wednesday. “If you get your hopes up and then nothing ends up happening, it would just be devastating again.”
The women’s worlds were originally scheduled to begin in Prince George in mid-March, but were called off with just a few days’ notice.
Organizers had raised the possibility of rescheduling the women’s, men’s and mixed-doubles events at one location in the fall, but that’s off the table.
Einarson, Val Sweeting and Briane Meilleur were to make their worlds debut. Along with teammate Shannon Birchard, the foursome won the national championship in Moose Jaw, Sask., in February.
But Einarson has had bigger fish to fry in Gimli, of late.
She works at a personal care home in the town, a facility where just last week there was a positive test for COVID-19 reported.
It turned out to be a false positive, but for a few days it threw a real scare into the staff and residents.
“It was very, very stressful, because instantly I think of my kids and my husband, bringing that home to them is scary,”
Einarson said. “With all the residents having their cold symptoms that was very worrisome. I thought, ‘Oh, no.’ And just how fast it hit them, I was quite worried. Even myself, I had some cold symptoms, but I never had a fever. Just a little bit of the cough. I worried about everyone. I would always send a text to work making sure everyone was OK.
“As soon as they got negatives back from the residents, I was relieved. I knew we’d all be OK.”
Working in a high-risk environment, Einarson has to wear the full personal protective equipment on the job.
Coming home from work to her husband and twin six-year-old girls puts her curling dilemma in perspective.
“Just making sure they’re healthy is what I care about,” she said. “I don’t get to spend a lot of time with them in the winter. I’m either practising lots, on the road and working. So just to be able to take that time with them feels good. And they appreciate it. They miss mom.”