Bodhi Jordan/Edge columnist
On New Year’s Eve, the COVID numbers in Canada went up by an estimated 8,420. This spike in new cases has brought concern among a lot of people, including myself. People have been worried for this pandemic for so many months that, understandably, people are wanting to have a break. From what I have seen, people are quite anxious surrounding this pandemic. New Year’s Eve is a holiday that many people hold in incredibly high regard, myself included. A time for new beginnings, for people to finally say “I’m done with this year, let’s move on.” With a year as bad as this one, people were looking forward to the point that you would think if they didn’t get to 2021 they would simply die on the spot out of desperation. This worry and excitement have combined together, however, to become carelessness.
On New Year’s Eve, Global News wrote a story on a group of 38 people that had planned a dinner in a Vancouver restaurant. This meeting and dinner was planned months in advance, well before any restrictions were put in place. However, the owner of the restaurant has been issued a fine because of a purported 100 people, which the owner of the restaurant has said is not true in the least. As I have read this story, I’ve realized that people are still trying to be careful despite carelessness. In my opinion, there shouldn’t have been any gatherings, but under the provincial health orders this gathering was completely above-board and legal. This story shows how careless people can be, but also how strict the law is beside what the actual restrictions are.
People are scared for the future and what it will look like. While we want to return to the old normal, that isn’t all that feasible when people keep breaking laws, and the laws keep getting harsher. Plans will have to be changed, and people will have to find ways to work around that. Finding a way to stay social in the pandemic without breaking laws has been hard for some, but others have found a way to work around that. Regardless, this New Year’s Eve has been hard for everyone, not being able to work with what they were once able to in terms of celebration, but now having to adapt in terms of what was once possible but no longer is.