Pam O’Donnell was unable to see her grandchildren open their presents on the last Christmas morning.
Her Christmas dinner featured just her and her partner.
In 2020, New Brunswick limited travel between Public Health Zones and restricted holiday gatherings to “Steady 20” residents, which meant that, living in Bathurst, he was unable to receive family from out of town or go to to see them either.
“I couldn’t even see my sister last Christmas,” says O’Donnell.
“She is in Fredericton, and my mom and dad’s graves are there, I usually visit her at the same time … And I couldn’t even do that last year.”
This year, O’Donnell says the recently tightened measures (which again limit meetings to the Steady 20s) still work for her to have a more “normal” Christmas, but says she will stick with that plan even if things crash. even more. .
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“It may not be right for me to say this, but we are doing it independently,” he says.
The province announced Monday that it would not go completely to “Alert Level 2”, but would reinforce things below Level 1.
This means that interregional travel may occur for now, but Prime Minister Blaine Higgs is not ruling out even more measures in the coming days.
“We could be back here Wednesday talking about a full Level 2,” he said at the COVID-19 briefing on Monday.
Level 2 would see bubble-restricted gatherings of two households, which on paper would mean that O’Donnell and his partner would have to choose between visiting his sister or hosting just one of their children and their families.
She says she is not willing to make that decision. Not this year.
“[Christmas] It was always a special moment, even when I was a kid, ”he says. “We create memories, many memories, treasured memories,” O’Donnell says.
“Once those memories are gone, you can’t go back to that year and get them back. It’s wasting valuable time with family members. “
You are not alone in planning the possibility that your holiday gathering will not meet provincial requirements.
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“We’ve been circumventing the under-table restrictions, as I suspect a lot of people have done to accommodate everyone,” says Cathy LeBreton.
Like O’Donnell, LeBreton also says his regular meetings aren’t very big, but if that move to Level 2 takes place, even the little one he hosted last year wouldn’t fly.
“It was just me, my daughter, and a friend who was stuck in Moncton,” she says, “and my daughter invited her boyfriend and we had a little get-together.”
“It was a very small intimate gathering with, I suppose, more than two households.”
In the past, New Brunswick implemented an anonymous tip line if you see a neighbor who exceeds current collection limits (colloquially known as a COVID hotline).
Some who have “circumvented the rules” have even received fines.
LeBreton says the threat is unfair.
“Christmas is a pretty stressful time without having to worry about the police coming knocking on your door to see how many people are sitting around your table,” he says.
“If they come and try to break into my door and see how many people I have in my house, they are going to have a fight on their hands.”
She points out that she will stay home no matter what, in case she feels sick, and hopes everyone will.
New Brunswick has previously said that fines for not following Public Health Law regulations could range from $ 172.50 to $ 772.50.
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