Family Dinner Postponed

Monday’s family dinner was on and just about ready when Shauna texted her reservations about going ahead with it. 

You see, there is a COVID outbreak at her retirement home. On Monday, they were up to 13 cases, so Shauna proposed just dropping the kids off here so that we could visit with them. She wouldn’t stay and risk infecting us and would have something to eat at home.

That didn’t seem like the right solution, but at the same time, it did seem right to be cautious. After some back and forth, we decided just to take a portion of the prepared meal over to her place for the three of them to have together. We would consume our portion here at home.

She’s knackered too, figuring out how to cope with it all at work. She’s put in OT helping to serve meals because it has been difficult to manage to hire enough servers. Aside from labour shortages, there have been other logistical management problems, and she’s feeling the strain.

This is the 7th wave. This residence did not have any incidents at all in the first 6 waves, but now they have 13 cases (or perhaps more by now). As I understand it, these 13 cases did not all come from the same source. The virus is out there and all around us.

As I see fewer and fewer masks being worn, I wonder if we have become too cavalier because it ain’t over. It is especially worrisome when we consider that the past two summers have shown a case decline while this summer shows an increase. It causes one to wonder what will happen in fall when the kids hit the classrooms?

On the bright side, most of Sha’s cases at her residence will probably, or at least hopefully, be mild because all of the residents are fully vaxxed and boosted.

But Shauna doesn’t have her 4th dose because it hasn’t been made available to non-seniors until just recently: this despite the fact that she works in a senior’s residence. 

We have a conservative government which has always been slow off the mark when it comes to COVID vaccinations. Eventually, however, when all else fails, they tend to at least come close to doing the right thing: a little late and a dollar short.

Addendum

I put this post in the queue yesterday morning. About an hour later, Shauna texted that she had tested positive. About an hour later, she was home and isolating in her bedroom. The kids will have the rest of the house, but so far they aren't positive.

I may not remember the details, but I think that if she is symptom free in five days, she can then test and needs two consecutive days of negatives. Otherwise, I think she has to isolate for 10 days. She could still test +ve for 30 days then but would still be allowed to function normally..

She was supposed to begin a week of holidays next week, but we'll have to see. She may be needed at work. Or maybe she will need to recuperate rather than travel.

Speaking of her workplace, 2 of the 13 cases are now testing -ve and are reintegrating, and all cases have been mild and more like colds.