Coronavirus Update #6 - The Toll on the Economy

Out for a socially distant walk with grand-puppy and daughter.

Many countries are doing their best to slow the spread of Coronavirus - some are shutting down non-essential businesses, restricting groups to as few as two people, or even telling people to stay home - 'shelter in place'.

And it might be working. Italy has had a couple days in a row where the death toll and infection rate has decreased. Canada had a one day decrease in numbers (maybe an anomaly, but we will see). China is continuing to flatten out.

But then there's Trump. Earlier today he tweeted, 'THE CURE CANNOT BE WORSE (by far) THAN THE PROBLEM! Congress MUST ACT NOW.' By this, he means that the economy cannot continue to be sidelined by Coronavirus. When the self-isolation order expires on March 31st in the US, people speculate that Trump will encourage everyone to go back to work.

I have to disagree. The first priority of a government is the health of its citizens. If people go back to work when the US is in the middle of an upward swing of infections, it's going to be catastrophic there. Their already crappy health system will quickly become overrun and people will die. Lots of people.

Look what's happening in Italy with the restrictions in place. Imagine how bad it would be without restrictions. Imagine how bad things will get for people in the US if Trump actually implements economic policies over health.

Kinda glad the border is closed....

Ever since Trump has been elected president in the US, I have usually found a reason each day to read about something he has done, or said, and then shake my head. This is currently a crisis in the US (as it is everywhere) yet he seems completely out of touch with what is going on.

I contrast that with the seriousness and sincerity of Trudeau and our provincial politicians. They seem in tune with what is going on and are trying to prepare us for a longer term of restrictions. Yes, this will affect the economy, but isn't saving lives the number one priority?

I hope so.

Coronavirus Update #5 - Back off, Jack! Social Distancing

Practising both Social Distancing and Spanish on our terrace. 

The weather here is glorious right now.

In fact, it has been nice and steadily getting warmer since we started self-isolating. Silver lining?

Our days have a bit of sameness to them - get up, coffee together while we watch the news, some work on the computer or household duties. Lunch, a nice long walk, hang out at home to study or paint or play a computer game, a drink or glass of wine around 4:30. Then, cook dinner for my wife's dad (85 years old), drop it off (keeping 2 metres away) chat with him for 20 minutes (making sure we don't touch anything - he really doesn't understand why we won't stay longer). home for our dinner, another glass of wine, watch the news again, and then a couple shows on TV before reading in bed.

It's actually quite a pleasant existence.

The tricky part right now is social distancing. When we are out walking, it seems like the whole neighbourhood is out as well. People are still fairly friendly although we make sure to go around people - sometimes walking into the street. Lots of people our on their bikes, whizzing past us as well.

People generally look happy, to be out of their houses for some fresh air and wonderful weather. But most are vigilant, as well, attempting to keep enough distance.

Yesterday was quite breezy - which made me think - can the Coronavirus be spread in the breeze a long distance? Not a happy thought.

Another glorious, socially distant, walk in the sunshine.

As we walked by a number of beaches, I saw groups of young people - teens or 20 somethings - congregating in groups, playing basketball or hanging out together. There were definitely not social distancing.

These are the people that PM Trudeau and our provincial leaders are talking about when they say that everyone needs to engage in social distancing. Young people are getting sick as well, although not as many. And if they have a mild case, they can pass it on to their parents or elderly relatives. Or to the clerk at the grocery store who passes it onto her aunt. Or.. or...

I remember (vaguely) being in my 20s and thinking that I was indestructible. In fact,. some of my behaviour at that age truly tested those parameters. But we are asking our young people to think beyond themselves and help stop the spread.

It's not an easy thing to do, when you're young, but it's so important.

As of yesterday, there were 424 cases in BC, and 1336 in Canada. Our neighbours to the south have close to 30,000 cases. We need to get a handle on this and getting everyone to engage in social distancing is the best way.

Keep healthy!

Coronavirus Update #4 - Stupid People

Spring breakers experiencing difficulties practicing social distancing.

Since my last posting, the numbers of cases - and deaths  - has steadily increased. 846 cases in Canada with 12 deaths and 271 cases in BC alone.

Our leaders have been very insistent on people following guidelines that will slow the progress of COVID19.

• Stay home. 
• Do not gather in groups. 
• Stay away from bars and restaurants except for take out. 

But there are some really stupid people in the world.

In the US, there are scenes every day of college aged students at the beach in places like Florida - in giant groups, drinking their faces off, having a great time, and not worried about getting sick.

'If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I'm not going to let it stop me from partying,' one spring breaker spouted.

But get this. Right now, the US has over 16,000 cases and 219 deaths. And, according to the latest facts, 20% of those infected in the US are between 20 and 44.

Also, think about the people they know and love. Siblings, parents, grandparents - all could be at risk when they decide the party is over.

Another example off stupidity. All bars and restaurants in Vancouver were ordered to close on St. Patrick's Day. Over 20 decided to ignore that order - motivated by greed. To be fair, there were a lot of foolish people that went in these bars as customers.  I hope their four leaf clovers keep them safe after such idiotic behaviour.

Six feet, not six centimetres, Donald...

Maybe picking on Trump is too easy,  but here's a photo from yesterday. Compared to Trudeau, who is by himself (granted, he is in isolation), or our provincial leaders, who are six feet apart, the US leader is seen cheek to jowl with other government representatives. Not the best social distancing, Donald!

Evangeline Lily - Crisis? What crisis?

Canadian actor Evangeline Lily joins other celebrities like Vanessa Hudgens (whining about Coronavirus being heartless and that maybe she shouldn't be quarantining), Nelydia Senrose (posting travel pics in Malaysia) and Gal Gadot (making an Imagine  video with friends rather than contributing in a more productive manner such as donations). Lily has basically decided not to change her routine, dropping her kid off at a gymnastics camp. “Just dropped my kids off at gymnastics camp. They all washed their hands before going in. They are playing and laughing,”

Great.

Of course, there are lots of other stupid things that have come about but that is to be expected in the world. Black people can't catch it (they can). Cow urine prevents Coronavirus (it doesn't). It's a Chinese virus because the Chinese wanted to infect people from Hong Kong (doubtful).  There's a bunch of Instagram filters for Coronavirus including one where you can randomly find out if you have the virus (just plain stupid). 

Bonnie Henry - an oasis of calm in a shit-storm.

Despite all of this idiocy, most people are taking this seriously and are rising to the occasion. PM Trudeau sounds genuine, sincere and is showing that he is a real leader each day when he speaks. Our provincial politicians appear on TV, 2 metres apart, and tend to tell things like it is, in a calm manner. Our provincial minister of health, Bonnie Henry, is the calmest, most sincere person I have seen in this whole crisis. I think my father-in-law would like a date with her...

I am hopeful that the above mentioned stupid people will realize the seriousness of the current crisis. It is never too late to practice social distancing and, if the majority of people are doing so, the outliers may not have much of an effect. 

Interestingly, one of the articles I read today noted that Canadians have an inherent trust in their government so they are more likely to follow the advice to flatten the curve - or plank it! 

I realize it is still early days in many ways but I am hopeful that the steps that most of us non-stupid people are taking will prevent things from becoming really bad. 

Stay home and stay healthy. 

Coronavirus #3 - Fiesta!

Just released! Some rosé to help cope...

I'm sure the title of today's blog is a bit different.

After I blogged yesterday, I went to the local college for my two Spanish classes - the last classes at the college as they are moving to online for Thursday.

For the first class, a first year Spanish Class, half of the class was missing. Surprisingly, it was mostly young kids that missed. The second class, a second year oral Spanish Class with 8 students - mostly over 50 - only had one missing person!

It was a presentation class where you had to explain how to do something, in Spanish, of course. One guy explained how to make sushi and then proceeded to make a whole bunch. I showed people how to taste wine - with their own sample, of course! And on it went - from calligraphy to string games to getting a job.

The class went overtime, not that anyone minded, and at the end we had a party of sorts - una fiesta - where we ate sushi and polished off the bottle of wine.

Yes, we all kept our distance. Nobody was coughing on others. The guy making sushi wore gloves.

For me, it was a rather enjoyable way to celebrate being with more than a couple people for the next I-don't-know-how-long.

The recent news in BC has not been so good. Yesterday there were 83 more cases for a total of 186. Today there's 45 more for a total of 231. There's close to 700 cases in Canada. Nine people have died. Some are questioning how effective the new measures are - not realizing that the infections reflect the situation 5 -7 days ago, not the situation right now.

Yesterday, I proposed three things. They have mostly happened already. The schools are closing indefinitely. The border is closed except to essential supplies and people - US citizens are not excluded (and vice versa). And our politicians are saying, "Stay at home."

Which is harder than it sounds.

When I was reading my email, I got a message that 8th Generation Winery had just released their rosé. We love their rosé so, off we went to Summerland to pick up a case.

The winery had a table across the front of the store and only one person was allowed in the small alcove at a time. After waiting for the guy before me, I ordered my case of 2019 8th Generation Pinot Meunier Rosé ($20 each), got a bonus bottle of Cab Merlot for ordering a case, and left with the wine. Very little interaction and no tasting - which seems like the ideal thing to do in the new reality.

Afterwards, we drove back to Kelowna, appreciating the glorious sunny day and the picturesque Okanagan Lake.

As we drove back, I thought, stay home - stay home except when you need essentials or possible a few bottles of wine.

If wineries can be careful with their policies and people can enter one at a time and keep their distance, I hope they can remain open. I will do my part to support them over the coming weeks.

We even ordered dinner at a local Asian restaurant tonight - pick up only, of course!

Coronavirus Blog #2

The view from my terrace gives no indication of the current crisis.

It's another beautiful day in the Okanagan. Although crisp and cold, the sun is bright in the sky. It's a good thing as I can look out on our terrace when all the news about COVID19 gets to be too much.

The cases in Canada have jumped by 42 to 447. Another person has died (in Ontario, this time) to make the total number of deaths 5. The Prime Minister spoke this morning echoing the standard things that will hopefully flatten the curve; wash your hands, no groups larger than 50, and social distancing. I know I've been elbow bumping everyone for the last couple days and, with the exception of going to the grocery store and pharmacy yesterday, have been staying home or walking outside.

Another thing alluded to by the PM is implementing some elements of the Emergency Measures Act. When I was a kid, it was implemented (called the War Measures Act) due to homegrown terrorists in Quebec called the FLQ who killed one politician and kidnapped another. This gave the government sweeping powers that you don't usually see in a democracy like Canada but may be necessary in the coming weeks to stabilize this pandemic.

There are a few things that I would like to see - and I would not be surprised if most of them happen in the next few days:

1. Close the border to the US. Canada has closed our border to everyone except essential people such as airplane crews and truckers of goods. And US citizens. The problem is, parts of the US, including Washington State, directly south of us, have more cases than all of Canada right now. Our provincial government, contradicting our PM,  has said that we don't want US citizens in BC. I think it would be safer to just close the borders to US citizens (and vice versa) except for trade related trips.

2. Close all schools and universities. I have a presentation at the local college today - but after that, I am tapping out. I don't need the courses - they are just for fun - and I think things are going to get a lot worse. Elementary and high schools will need to close, too, for the sake of the children and staff who need to be out of that giant Petri dish called a school. It's a burden, but there's my next point.

3. People should stay home. We are being told that but my wife and I are practically the only ones we know who are able to because we are retired. I have relatives that work for independent businesses, wineries, the RCMP, and government agencies and they are all working on site. My son, luckily, can work from home. One of the most effective measures in China and Korea was to restrict movement and have people stay home. That would also mean there are parents home to take care of their children.

I realize that people are very concerned about he economic impacts of shutting down most business for the time being - or, at least, running them from home. But the situation in places like Italy and Spain right now show that these measures will happen anyway. Why not reduce the spread - or at least flatten the curve - by implementing stricter controls - temporarily - right now?

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!

Sip With Your Sweetheart in West Kelowna

Just before Valentie's Day, the wineries of West Kelowna got together and held their annual Sip With Your Sweetheart wine tasting. All of the wineries had wine available (sometimes just one, sometimes a full tasting slate) as well as a sweet treat to go with it - all at no charge. We visited a number of wineries and I wanted to feature two that we went to - one I had visited before and one that was new to me.

The new winery for me was Indigenous Winery - Canada's first winery owned and run by Indigenous people.

 

The tasting room was nicely appointed with a great range of different indigenous art displayed around the bar. We were offered a full tasting and proceeded to enjoy our wines. They were accompanied by a delicious sweet bannock bun drizzled with chocolate. Wonderful!

The 2018 Hee-Hee-Tel-Kin ($15.99 winery direct - also available at Save-On) was a tasty blend of Gewurtztraminer, Muscat Blanc, and Pinot Gris. It was a very aromatic wine with strong acidity and wonderful fruit flavours of apricot, apple, peach, and some citrus flavours of orange, grapefruit and lemon. This would be a wonderful patio sipper and would also go well with sushi, fish, and chicken. A taste of summer in a glass! I rated this Very Good.

The next wine we had was the 2018 Estate Muscat ($19.99).  I am always a bit wary of Muscat as there are great ones and not so good ones. This was good - some nice citrus flavours like grapefruit and lemon along with pear and apple. It was fruity, rather than sweet, and would be great to enjoy, sitting on the patio or with lunch. Although it did not have a super long finish or a lot of complexity, it was still a Good wine.

Finally, we had the 2016 Single Vineyard Merlot ($26.99). This was not so plummy - which is a good sign when I drink Merlot. There were black fruits like blueberry, blackberry and black cherry with an earthiness as well as tobacco from oak contact. It had a fairly long finish, was complex and was balanced. A Very Good wine!

We did visit two other wineries - the first was Frind but I have already reviewed a visit there in the fall. The other was Kalala but for some reason, I didn't take any photos and my notes are a bit sketchy. Maybe because it was the last one we visited?

Our other winery is one I visited two years ago - Ciao Bella - and I thought it was worth another look! This is a small winery but super friendly. You feel like you are entering the rec room of their house and - voila! - you are in the tasting room! Did I mention that the people there were all very friendly? 

Two years ago, a sweet girl was making hand drawn and coloured signs for the wines being tasted that day. Lovely! Now, according to her parents, the owners, she's a teenager, and probably wouldn't be caught dead around customers!

Their wines go fast - so there were only two available for tasting. They were accompanied by Lindt chocolates - which actually were a pretty good wine pairing!

The first wine was their 2018 Pinot Grigio ($22). Although I don't usually like the Pinot Grigio style, I actually enjoyed this wine. It wasn't overly sweet and had some nice acidity. There were flavours of lemon, pear, apple and honey. I was definitely surprised with this wine and would rate is as Good.

The other wine we tried was their 2017 Pinot Nera (Pinot Noir) ($29). This just released wine was full of red fruit flavours such as raspberry, strawberry and cherry as well as a delightful earthy flavour underlying the fruit. There was a hint of vanilla and some leather as well. Their 2016 Pinot Nero was quite the successful wine and I believe that this will win its share of awards as well. Balanced, fairly complex, intense and with medium length, I would rate this as Very Good to Outstanding. It's just been released and I am confident it will become even better with a bit of age. 

Overall, it was a great way to spend a few hours in the afternoon. This event usually takes place the weekend before Valentine's Day in West Kelowna and involves 14 wineries and a cidery. Highly recommended if you are in the Okanagan next February!