Coronavirus Blog #1

Walking in the sun seems a safe way to avoid COVID-19

So... I was going to blog about the recent International Wine Festival in Vancouver that I attended at the end of February - which seems like an awfully long time ago. Unfortunately, the situation here - and in the world - is rather dire so I have decided to use my blog to talk about the Coronavirus and my experiences around the pandemic.

As of today, there are 405 cases of COVID-19 in Canada, 103 of them in my province of BC. It doesn't seem like a lot but the problem is that there are probably many more people who have it who either don't have symptoms yet or had such mild symptoms that they didn't recognize that they had the virus.

I remember a mere week or so ago, we were still planning on going to a trip to Spain in April. They had around 400 cases - like we have now. We thought the numbers were pretty low so it would be fine to go. Fast forward a week, and Spain has close to 10,000 cases with 342 deaths. Everything is closed except for food stores and pharmacies. Needless to say, we cancelled our trip.

Now, many of the retail outlets in Canada are closing or have closed. Grocery stores have sporadic rushes where there are huge line ups of people one day and are normal the next.  Most restaurants are still open but it is uncertain for how long. People are being encouraged to use services like Skip the Dishes.  Gyms and casinos are closed.

Yet, we went for a walk today, in the sunshine, and there were no signs of panic or even concern. People said, "Hi!" as we passed them and there were the usual numbers of people walking, jogging and cycling. We walked to downtown Kelowna and went to the bookstore where we stocked up on some books. There were other people in the bookstore and no-one was wearing a mask or asking if we used hand sanitizer.

One of my relatives works at a private business in Kelowna. Her boss returned home from Las Vegas yesterday and was at work today. No self-isolation, even though everyone who returns to the country is supposed to self-isolate for fourteen days. Is this how pandemics spread?

Things are changing rapidly - daily, right now. I think my wife and I are being fairly vigilante in our approach. We will avoid going out to eat for the near future. We are still going to businesses that are open if needed. We intend to stay home or be outside, walking, most of the time.

My wife's father is 85 years old and is at high risk. We are still trying to figure out how much we should have contact with him. We were at a family dinner yesterday at his house but have decided, today, to drop off dinner for him today and avoid visiting.

Who know what the future has in store? In the meantime, we will wash our hands frequently (my hand washing tune is the Star Trek theme), limit our contacts with others as much as is practical, and keep updated with what is happening next.

Thank goodness the wine cellar is full!