After a long winter of disconnection and a perilous spring, this week the province announced its plans for a gradual reopening of life as we use to know it over the summer.
It’s news we’ve all longed to hear, and at times – announcements of new variants and overwhelmed ICUs – it felt like we were never going to get there. But finally we’re seeing the light shining on the horizon.
It’s a sensible plan, based on trackable data that have driven public decisions surrounding the pandemic – like case counts, hospitalizations, and crucially, vaccination rates.
The dimmer switch is being turned slowly.
Starting today, restaurants will be able to reopen and two households can get together in a private home. Local sports games can resume.
If vaccination rates continue to rise, however, by July we’ll be able to host outdoor parties, kids can have sleepovers and recreational travel throughout Canada is back on the table. By September, completely normal life could threaten to break out again.
If that isn’t a strong incentive for vaccination, we’re not sure what would be.
No doubt, there will be bumps along the re-start road. It would be easy to see, for instance, people having dramatically different views on when we should be able to go maskless.
For now, however, we’ll take the plan and the sight of post-pandemic sunshine that it offers.
It gives us hope that we will emerge soon from the long dark tunnel that our year of living with COVID has been.
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