The wedding a friend announced early this year for September went ahead. Without the guests. Without the big reception. Without his honeymoon trip. Plagues will do that.
Another friend finds herself after 10 months of isolation desperately missing the hugs and faces of family and friends. And more than she ever expected.
Elections have consequences? Yes, they do.
A few countries that had better taste in leaders are able to enjoy the simple pleasures we forgo this season. Those responsible enough not to put family and friends at risk, that is.
The Washington Post reports that successful coronavirus containment efforts by Australia, New Zealand, Rwanda, Taiwan and Vietnam have allowed eased restrictions for the holidays if they were not already relaxed:
Victoria state in Australia reported no new coronavirus cases ahead of Christmas — a miracle of sorts for 2020. The state, however, has in place restrictions on travelers from some other parts of the country, like New South Wales, which on Wednesday reported nine new cases.
“The virus doesn’t stop for Christmas; we don’t stop for Christmas,” Victoria’s testing chief Jeroen Weimar told Australian media. “If you’ve got symptoms on Christmas Day, go and get tested on Christmas Day.”
The government of New South Wales, which is Australia’s most populous state, announced Wednesday that new case levels were low enough for it to ease restrictions limiting social gatherings for the duration of Christmas.
In the Greater Sydney area, gatherings of up to 10 people are permitted (only five for harder-hit northern suburbs). The eased restrictions revert to covid “normal” on the 27th.
New Zealand has some of the tightest restrictions, having “recorded 49 active coronavirus cases, nine of which were newly detected in travelers from abroad, according to the ministry of health.”
The New Zealand Herald reports how one couple “stuck” there for the holidays turned friends into family:
When French-born Frederique Irion sensed she couldn’t return to France for Christmas this year, she suggested to her Iranian-born husband that they host a Christmas lunch at his Parnell restaurant for friends also stuck here.
About 50 people of at least 14 nationalities turned up for the party at Reza Sarkheil’s restaurant Rumi in Parnell on Christmas Day.
Irion, 33, and her husband would normally spend Christmas with her family in Strasbourg, but their plans were thwarted this year by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Christmas is a special time to be with family, and after a particularly tough year it is hard to not be able to spend the festive season with your nearest and dearest,” she said.
“We are lucky enough to be living in New Zealand where we are not in lockdown or facing tight restrictions, so I thought it would be nice to bring our friends and their families together for a Christmas lunch.”
They celebrate together because New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is a leader. U.S. voters ordered a lump of personality disorders for Christmas four years ago. He went golfing.
My hug-missing friend is ready for an around-the-world trip when this pandemic is over. Doing so might be harder than it was a year ago. The travel industry collapsed in March.
Cancellations poured in, says New York Times travel writer Tariro Mzezewa, after Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson reported contracting the coronavirus. The N.B.A. suspended its season the same day, March 11, after a Utah Jazz player tested positive (emphasis mine):
“The biggest issue is that we do not have a coordinated response from the federal government,” Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants union, told me over the summer.
The whole travel industry has been devastated by the pandemic. Nearly 40 percent of all travel jobs, 3.5 million positions, vanished between March and November. Six months into the pandemic, the American Hotel and Lodging Association found that most hotels across the country were struggling to keep their doors open and were unable to rehire all their staff because of the historic drop in travel demand.
In addition to livelihoods, the industry has lost something less tangible but still fundamental — the ability to shake hands, hug, see smiles. Hospitality employees are possibly the friendliest people out there, and for them to not be able to share that has been the source of its own kind of devastation.
We got a rare white Christmas last night. It will have to do.
It’s Happy Hollandaise time here at Hullabaloo. If you’d like to drop a little something in the old Christmas stocking you can do so here: