The province of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) has fared very well during the current COVID-19 pandemic. We had seen very low case counts (~.63 per thousand people) up to the week of February 8th, 2021. This is largely due to the fact that Newfoundland is an island province, and Labrador is very isolated and sparsely populated. Additionally, NL has had pretty strict travel restrictions for most of the pandemic, forcing people into a 14 day quarantine when they arrived in the province (with the exception of the short lived "Atlantic Bubble"). There was also a province wide lockdown that lasted months after the first cluster of cases were discovered in NL, which nearly wiped out the virus in the province. Restrictions start lifting in the spring of 2020.
For the next 6 months or so, cases were limited to travelers returning home, or rotational workers coming home from work. But, for the most part, they were playing by the rules and isolating, and any new cases were caught pretty quickly and outbreaks were halted before they could get out of hand. Then came February 8th, and the announcement of 11 new cases. These cases linked to students and schools, and a weekend of school sports. February 9th: 30 new cases, Feb 10th: 53 new cases, Feb 11th: 100 new cases. Over 4 days, NL had 194 new cases, over half as many as all of the cases as the previous 330 days combined. Then, Feb. 12th, the worst news of all, the new UK variant of the virus is the strain that has been spreading around NL. The province held a second COVID-19 briefing that day (a first for the pandemic) to announce the news, and the return to Alert Level 5 (which is essentially a province wide lockdown).
On February 12th I also received news that I was in the same location of someone who tested positive. I've reached out to schedule my test, and am waiting for a call from public health. Although currently experiencing no symptoms, I have to self-isolate for two weeks from the potential exposure, so the family is trapped on the property until February 22nd. We decided to all isolate for a few reasons:
Well, I thought I'd catalog a few of the activities we are doing while in isolation and while in another province wide lockdown, since I now have lots of spare time from all the activities that were cancelled. I'll probably post every few days, summarizing what has been happening, with photos if that helps add to the story.
Since the lockdown was announced at 8:30 pm, I'll call Feb. 12th, day 0 instead of day 1. This is also the day we were all warned to isolate anyway. I did have some snowshoes purchased for the girls, but was no longer allowed to go out and pick them up. Nana to the rescue! She grabbed the snowshoes, and they work great for the girls. Now just have to get pairs for Sara and I.
Being advised to stay home, and not being allowed off the property are very different. During the first lockdown I would go for walks, or go to the grocery store to get out of the house and get supplies as required. But now, since the whole family isn't allowed to leave, we have to do things around the house.
So, in the morning we gutted out the family room, and cleaned up. Threw away a bag of garbage and had a bag of recycling. Now everything is in great shape.
In the early afternoon, shovelled out the driveway, and cleared out a spot in the backyard to have a winter fire. Got the idea from an episode of Back in Time for Winter on CBC. The fire will be one evening later this week.
In the mid-afternoon, arranged some online games with girls and my sister and mother from Halifax. Played a few rounds of Guesspionage and Quiplash 2 from the Jackbox Series. This went really well, and we will probably make it a weekly activity.
Late afternoon, wrote this post. :)
So that is it for now, stayed tuned for more in the coming weeks.
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