Thursday, June 18, 2020

Covid Update

I thought I would give you an update on how we are faring during this time of Covid particularly now that some of the restrictions are easing up.  I follow people from all over Canada and the US and I am curious about what they are up to, so I wanted to give you the Toronto perspective (at least from me).  While some of Ontario has moved to Phase 2, which includes restaurants being open, Toronto is still in Phase 1.  We are hoping for Phase 2 by the end of the month.


We are still trying to limit our trips to the store to essential purchases, so we aren't the people who were lined up at Winners last week. We still have a stockpile of food but not as much as we used to.  It seems like the grocery store is getting back to normal so we are able to buy most things we need.  The online grocery orders are also more available now so it actually means less trips to the store since I can rely on my order being filled within a day of placing it.

We wear masks when we go inside stores. I may also wear one if I am walking down Bloor Street since it is pretty close quarters there.  But we do not wear them when walking or biking in the parks since we can usually keep a good distance, and we are outside anyway.  The kids don't have masks yet since they don't go with us to the store, but we have ordered some so we are prepared.  I find most people wear masks while in stores and that it's weird to see someone without a mask. 

I don't wear gloves anymore, I just use sanitizer, and avoid touching my face until I can get home to wash my hands properly.

We have been socializing with a couple of the neighbours and although the kids are not keeping their distance, we try to stay apart from the adults, and no one is allowed in anyone's house.  We haven't formed a formal circle with anyone since we don't really see the need to do that yet.   No backyard parties or anything, but we did have six adults sitting around a backyard on Saturday, that's the biggest adult group so far.  The kids were in the yard next door watching a movie, so technically we weren't over 10 people in a gathering.

I do not wipe down groceries, parcels, mail, or take out meals, and I never have. I just wash my hands after touching things.

The go-ahead has been given for daycares to open in Ontario, however they have provided no guidelines or protocols so Q's daycare won't open until July 2 at the earliest.  Since we were already going to pull Q out for August, we won't bother going back in July even if they do open.  We aren't super concerned about infection of the kids, although it is a concern of course, but we don't really need the spot and are fine to leave it open to someone else who needs it and will be there beyond August. 

If Toronto can enter Phase 2 like the rest of the province by the end of June, and soccer and t-ball could start up, I would be fine with letting my kids play.  They are both outdoor activities and as long as the adults kept their distance from each other on the sidelines (and we abolished the dreaded snack, a pet peeve of mine although I know the kids like it) then I think they could safely play.  E has two camps scheduled for the summer, one is soccer and one is baseball, again, they are both outside so I'm not really concerned about the virus, and it would give him something to do. 

Since Sandbanks Provincial Park is already in a Phase 2 area, then our camping trip is going ahead at the end of this month.  We are excited to go somewhere and go swimming!  There will be no showers and the camp store may be closed but it should be fine.     

My office is planning for a return to the workplace but no dates have been suggested yet, especially for the Toronto office.  Since we are in a large office building and everyone takes some form of public transit to work there are different considerations than there would be for our northern Ontario office where we are the sole occupants of a stand alone building and everyone drives their own car to work.

So what about where you are - Do people wear masks? Are the kids participating in organized sports?  Is anyone going back to the office?  Has anyone been in your house?  How big is your circle/bubble? 


1 comment:

  1. A lot of people still aren't wearing masks to the stores here, unless the store specifically requires it. However, I haven't been in a store in two and a half weeks so maybe that's changed recently. Our director of Public Health is starting to recommend mask wearing more strongly so maybe that will help.

    Our kids aren't participating in organized sports but we hadn't signed Sam up for ball because we thought he was going to be gone for all of July so we couldn't commit to a whole season. By the time we knew his month away was cancelled, Covid had hit and it didn't seem worth it to sign up. I'm most excited that our pool opens as of July 1!!!!!! Although swim lessons are cancelled. And we might have a socially distant, short, VBS at our church in July but we're still waiting on that.

    Dave won't go back to the office until September at the earliest (company wide policy but they have offices all over the world), I have been into the school a few times to help with end of year tasks, but other than that, I won't work this summer (clearly).

    No one has been inside our house yet but we will bubble with Dave's parents, maybe by this weekend and we said being able to use the washroom needed to be a part of that for us. They live about half an hour away so not being able to use a washroom really limits the length of time we can be there.

    Other than that, we are socially distant visiting. It will be so weird for our kids to be able to play with other kids again. They haven't experienced that since mid-March. Strange times.

    The biggest news here is that I got a massage and we have haircuts scheduled. Whoooo hoooo!!!

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