I have an interesting scenario to walk you through. If you are a people pleaser, like me, this is a post for you! The pressure will be on for you to 'break the rules'. It's like a little white lie. We may tell them instead of the truth in order to avoid upsetting someone. We want to make people happy. People pleaser/ COVID scenario:
You are a wedding officiant and a really good one. Your weekends are booked all summer long. We are in the middle of a pandemic. Weddings look different. May I send out my good wishes to all of you who planned a beautiful wedding with a big invite list and a venue? I am sorry you lost that dream. Some people are going ahead with a socially distanced wedding. You are called on to officiate that wedding. Standing six feet away from the bride and groom just does not feel or look right. The pressure is on to stand just a little bit closer. Three feet is OK, right? It is outside and everyone is healthy. It must be OK, right? The ceremony is over, the register is signed and 6 days later you receive a call from the bride. The best man has tested positive for COVID 19.
Here is the ensuing chain of events: You have to be tested and you now have to quarantine for 2 weeks or until your test comes back negative. If it comes back positive, well, you have COVID 19. Everyone you have come in contact with since the wedding now has to self-isolate. Everyone in your bubble. That means the people in your bubble who were going to work everyday, can't now. You are also helping a lot of folks in a good socially distanced way. But now your elderly parent to whom you dropped off groceries on Monday has to quarantine too. She will be fine because the 6 feet barrier was not breached with her but, just in case, you have to play it safe. For you and the people you have stayed close to, life is back to the beginning of the pandemic.
I was on call last night. This is the evening clinic the family doctors run in Guelph. I wear full PPE but the support staff do not so to protect them people who present with respiratory symptoms are not allowed in. We can't diagnose COVID at this clinic. We send these patients to emergency or to the COViD clinic but.... the pressure was on. A gentleman presented with shortness of breath, cough and fever, most likely related to an underlying lung condition. It took all my restraint not to just usher that patient into a room and make his life a little easier and convenient but, I would have put the lives of the two people I was working with at risk and then by the nature of the beast, everyone they come in contact with.
Please, please do not give in. This virus does not care that it is your wedding day or that the weather is beautiful and what does it matter if I invite four friends over or 10? We don't need masks right? You can't drink a beer and wear a mask. And, oh, yeah. Once we have had a few, 6 feet of distance may be a bit hard to enforce but that's oK, it is just a one off, right?
COVID 19 is very, very infectious. It spreads so easily. There is a brilliant plan in place to get us through this pandemic. We expand our testing capacity to test as may folks as we can. We aggressively trace every contact of a person who tests positive and quarantine them so that they cannot spread the virus. We do this over and over again while the public follows the rules of staying 6 feet apart, wearing a mask in public and limiting the number of people gathered to 5 or under. We wash our hands obsessively and before you know it, a vaccine is here and we have made it through with the fewest infections possible. This is our new reality, just for now.
It is not easy!!! But it is much harder to have to reach out to the people you love and tell them you have been exposed and much worse if your exposure leads to someone else getting ill. We may not always have control over being exposed but when we do, we should take that control and use it well.
What a blessed spring day. Enjoy it. Crazy when winter turns to summer in the blink of an eye but, this is Ontario. Keep up the good work! Do not lose your resolve. WE can do this!
Anne-Marie
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PS. We are planning a speakers event online. June 1 is the date. Details to follow. If there are topics you would like us to cover or questions you would like answered, please reach out in the comments!
For local assistance with anxiety and depression:
www.here4help.ca
CMHA WW Website: www.cmhaww.ca
Here 24/7 at 1-844-HERE-247 or www.here247.ca.
And for post-secondary students, Good2Talk
https://good2talk.ca/
www.here4help.ca
CMHA WW Website: www.cmhaww.ca
Here 24/7 at 1-844-HERE-247 or www.here247.ca.
And for post-secondary students, Good2Talk
https://good2talk.ca/
And to help the vulnerable.
Relief efforts in Lesotho:
Efforts in Guelph:
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