Rhino's Ramblings - I'm Dreaming Of A Masked Christmas

By Robert Thomas Opinion-Commentary

Well it is official and despite what some thought Premier Scott Moe did not ease the present COVID - 19 restrictions now that the fourth wave of the pandemic that never stops has subsided.

But what he did instead was announce, under advisement from Dr Saqib Shahab the Province’s chief medical officer, was that the present mandate restrictions are here until at least January 31st.

Now I realize there are going to be a lot of groaning and moaning out there from many people but the mandates are going to be in effect over Christmas and into the New Year whether you like it or not.

The mask mandate for indoor public spaces is not going away and neither is the requirement to provide your proof of vaccination (commonly referred to as a vaccine passport) or a recent negative COVID - 19 test to go to what the Province has typified as non-essential activities.

If you want to go and sit down at a restaurant and enjoy a coffee or a meal then you are going to need to be vaccinated and prove it for at least another couple of months.

For many it is not the greatest of news as after two years they are just sick and tired about what is now the “neverending story” that this pandemic has become. That light at the end of the tunnel most people were lead to believe would be brought by vaccination has seemingly dimmed for many over the past few months.

Masks hung from a Christmas tree at a recent event by organizers as a means of encouraging their use - MJ Independent photo

I will have to say the move by Premier Moe to announce now the measures will be extended through Christmas and into the New Year is perhaps the smartest political move he has made recently when it comes to the pandemic.

You may as well tell the Public the bad news right now instead of stringing them on with false hopes the measures are going away in time for Christmas. PR wise who ever is advising the Premier on the COVID - 19 file did their job on this one.
The only thing missing from the Premier’s announcement is Dr Shahab also adding the mask mandate should go much further and it needs to be there throughout the Winter and into March.

The reasoning about all of this is during the Winter people are no longer outdoors and by being inside and in close proximity to one another the virus through droplets have the ideal place to spread.

Now here is where it all gets tricky and you guessed it there are now cries from some physicians and also the left-wing keyboard warriors and media the Premier did not go far enough and needs to announce limits on the size of public gatherings.

For them the solution is simple just limit how many people can gather together and thereby eliminate the problem. They want it mandatory that people need to stay in their restricted bubble over the Christmas holidays to prevent a series of super spreader events the majority of people call being with family.

Yes there are - depending on your viewpoint - some well intentioned Grinches lurching in the shadows of such social media sites as Twitter and Facebook ready to steal what little joy you might still find in 2021 to the other side as people who are concerned and caring enough to forego being with family to stop the pandemic.

And yup I know what my rural readers - there are a lot of them - are going to say about all of this and nope it is not pretty.

But despite the large rural backlash to the entire COVID - 19 pandemic PR campaign and the big media’s dominance of it, it now seems the Province is setting out to somehow wrangle up compliance with smaller centres and rural areas about to be targeted.

And yes as people tell me out in one of the rural curling rinks I inhabit from time to time they are now after your Scottish given right to shout “Hurry, hurry, hurry hard” each Winter and then hang out for coffee until just after 9 pm. OK until 8:30 in Livelong as it is a bit of a drive back to Glaslyn.

I think what the new agency charged with coordinating this entire file are quickly going to find is the majority of people in the rural areas of the province listen to John Gormley Live in the morning as their major source of news and not CBC. Targeting rural folk might not go over as easily as it has in the urban centres.

I was recently out in a rural area of the province - I won’t tell you where but it had nothing to do with anything I have written for MJ Independent - and doing business out there was not a masked one.

I had people ask me if it bothered them if they did not wear a mask (with a tacit understanding if I said it did they would) right up to more than enough cussing about “those stupid masks I always forget the damn thing.”

And it is not just rural areas I have seen my fair share of disdain for masks here locally as well.

With that said I am going to state right here I believe masks do work. But I am also going to state the obvious for a lot of people they are quite frankly a pain in the keister.

Now am I going to argue the fact masks work. Nope, not at all as let us face it the lack of a real flu season last year has a lot to do with mandatory mask requirements.

I will leave the other great debate about their causing infections, being made out of cancerous materials and also the conspiracy theory that it is some secret elite using masks as a way to traffic women and children for people to debate elsewhere.

But I will state lots of people do not like and have no use for masks. They are hot, sweaty, something people forget, others do not wear them properly and don’t even get me started on how the price has doubled since the pandemic started.

It is a fact I have discovered as I trekked into nearly empty grain bins with a scoop shovel.

Despite not restricting gathering sizes what Premier Scott Moe has said so far is he is recommending or suggesting people voluntarily restrict their gathering sizes to those within a small bubble.

And yes, it is something which, once again drawn a negative response from the critics. They want mandated numbers when it comes to gathering sizes because as they point out without them nobody is going to cut that number back.

Things like Christmas and New Year's parties are super spreader events if they have ever seen them.

But on a positive note I suppose if his critics were to win the argument and Premier Moe relented and went on to limit gathering sizes there might be a reduction of firings of employees who imbibed in too much free liquid courage and then told their boss what they truly thought about them. Just limit the gathering sizes would likely help in this.

It is a strong PR selling point for the Premier to take action on if I ever saw one and so far missed by the critics seeking further mandates.

On a serious note though without any official prodding the number of staff Christmas get togethers for local businesses is down this year anyhow for a couple of reasons the critics ignore.

What employees are telling me is employers are not holding parties this year because there are staffers who are not vaccinated, in some cases a large number, who cannot attend a function so holding a party is not fair.

While the, albeit few, business owners I speak to just cannot afford it.

It has been a tough two years financially for many small businesses and they tell me quite frankly they simply cannot afford it. Money is still very tight for many of them.

But at the end of it all so far 2021 - which held out so much hope initially - has been a wash for many.

Personally I think Premier Scott Moe sees this and realizes there needs to be a balance out there and if people simply use some common sense when it comes to social distancing, restricting those who we celebrate with we can all have a great masked Christmas.

Despite what the critics might say about it.

PLEASE TRY TO BE KIND TO EACH OTHER.