Have yourself a quarantine-y Christmas
At this moment, it is very tempting to scoff at the very idea of Christmas, when it seems there has been no end to Lent.
But that could be the quarantine fatigue talking — and when we are talking quarantine nowadays, it may mean any kind of restrictions we may feel. Trapped, “like a circle in a spiral, in an ever spinning wheel,” as the song goes.
There is no assurance that when we see the last of 2020, things will slide back to normal — even the prospect of many, many vaccines and gazillions of doses paid for by various governments do not guarantee a world where we can go back to the freedoms we used to take for granted.
Who is to say that we can forget about social distancing when the vaccines arrive? It will still take months before everyone gets a dose or two, and more months still to see how it goes.
President Rodrigo Duterte himself reiterated something so basic that many of us seem to be ignoring nowadays, as if in rebellion against the prospect of a holiday season with no let-up on the challenges of daily life. He said, “It’s so simple, really: mask, face shield, social distancing.”
Tell that to the people shopping for goods in the markets nowadays. Tell that to jeepneys flimsily separating passengers with a plastic barrier, still full to the brim.
At Christmas, we can practice the top three rules of safety against infection as much as we can, and of course we cannot have time to spend with our loved ones. Our elderly parents we have not been able to hug or kiss in the last nine months; brothers and sisters and their families we have only seen on social media; and friends we won’t be having reunion parties with — they will have to wait until it feels safer to congregate once more.
Following typhoons that saw new cases of COVID- 19 from evacuation centers, and firm in their resolve to keep the pandemic in control, the mayors of Metro Manila have reiterated their plan to ban Christmas parties and outdoor caroling to prevent a spike in infections in the merriest time of the year.
Comprising the Metro Manila Council, the 17 mayors believe a prohibition would be the sacrifice we need to make so that Christmas, while glum for many, would not result in an uncontrollable spread of a virus that could turn next year into another nightmare.
So, here are the rules, in case you missed it: Christmas parties at public places are not allowed; and in private offices, they are “discouraged” to do so as only 10 people, under the general community quarantine ( GCQ), are allowed in mass gatherings. Christmas caroling from house to house is also banned, for reasons we all understand.
Paragraph B, Section 2 of the Executive Order states that “Christmas parties or any mass gatherings of more than 10 people in celebration of Christmas or any activity or program in relation to any celebration be it Christmas or otherwise outside residence including but not limited to one’s backyard, sidewalk or street” will not be allowed.
But, fret not. It is also noted that “members of the same family may hold a Christmas party or gathering in celebration of the Christmas season inside their houses or residence or indoor.”
As the GCQ is extended until yearend, people just have to come up with more inventive ways to celebrate together — to toast to health, to family and friends, to lessons learned, to values regained and to keeping sane and perhaps even optimistic in spite of frustrating changes in our lives.
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As the GCQ is extended until yearend, people just have to come up with more inventive ways to celebrate together.
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Who is to say that we can forget about social distancing when the vaccines arrive? It will still take months before everyone gets a dose or two, and more months still to see how it goes.