Put down the carving knife and platter. Canada’s Prime Minister says Thanksgiving may be off this year due to a rising number of COVID-19 cases.
“In our four biggest provinces the second wave isn’t just starting it’s already underway,” Justin Trudeau said in a televised address Wednesday.
“It’s all too likely we won’t be gathering for Thanksgiving but we still have a shot at Christmas.”
B.C.’s provincial health officer says it’s large family gatherings we should avoid.
“There’s no reason at all why you can’t have Thanksgiving with your household bubble, your contacts, your close small number of people,” said Dr. Bonnie Henry.
“The large family gatherings, we’ve been saying that throughout the summer, this is not the year for that.”
According to Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada has seen an average of 1,100 new cases per day this past week compared to 380 per day in mid-August.
“If we keep going in the direction we’re headed by late October, that direction indicates 5,000 or more cases a day across Canada, that’s a lot,” said SFU mathematics professor and infectious disease modeller Caroline Colijn.
But in Island Health, the numbers tell a bit of a different story.
As of Sept. 24 only six out of the 1,371 active cases across the province were in the Vancouver Island region. That’s roughly 30 times fewer active cases per person than the rest of B.C.
And many Islanders are questioning why they would forego family get-togethers, like Thanksgiving, when there are so few cases here.
But experts say those who live in Island Health shouldn’t pull their foot off the brake on COVID precautions just yet.
“The more you kind of think we don’t have cases here so let’s relax, that works, that works great until it doesn’t. It works great until you’re unlucky,” said Colijn.
“That unlucky event, when it lands in a population that’s not taking a lot of precautions, it can spread like wildfire.”
April Lawrence
