A Wedding And A Funeral In A Pandemic

 Last night we went to a wedding. Well, sort of. 

A close family member moved to Canada just as COVID first showed up in China. She had met her now husband while they were travelling and spent some time visiting Canada and getting to know him and his family. They came here to catch up with her family then headed back to Canada where they moved in together. There were plans to come back at the end of last year for a visit and then, of course, everything changed. 

Rampant COVID world wide and the lock downs and hard borders made any prospect of travelling impossible but life and love goes on even in a pandemic and even if it's in a different form than we expect. They've acquired pets, bought a house, gotten engaged and now are married. The sad thing is that none of her family - parents, brother, aunts, uncles and cousins - or long time friends could be there. It was disappointing for all but they arranged a Facebook Live Stream. With the twelve hour time difference between Ontario and Western Australia we would normally have been just about ready for bed but we watched and wished them all happiness. I have to say that the Live Stream technology is not perfect as it kept shutting down and added to that we lost the internet several times. Fortunately this disruptions were not during the important parts of the actual ceremony.

It's been good that we had this happy event because in the last couple of weeks two close friends have passed away and we have so far attended the first funeral - well, not so much a funeral as a wake since he specified that he didn't want a funeral. It was sad and touching and we were able to spend time remembering a dear friend and neighbour but COVID touched this as well. Although Western Australia is presently COVID free so those of us who live here could gather one of his daughters and his grand daughter were stuck in lockdown in Victoria and couldn't come. 

We've been very lucky here - hard state borders aren't popular with the federal government or some other parts of the country, particularly NSW where most of the outbreaks in Australia have originated and a different approach might have been advantageous to all of us - but apart from the initial several months of lockdown last year here in Western Australia we've only had a couple of brief periods when an active case in the community had needed some intensive contact tracing. This has meant we can go about our lives pretty much as we always have but as you can see it doesn't mean we aren't affected by the pandemic. 

Many of us have family and friends in parts of the country already in lockdown and worry about them daily. Pisces and I both have family in lockdown interstate, several of them in hot spots, and that's before we even get to friends. With the situation as it is we're continually amazed that there have been demonstrations by anti-vaxers and others who, despite all the evidence, believe the pandemic is a hoax and demand that everything gets opened up. In the minds of these people all these sensible steps to ensure the safety of the population are trumped by a belief in myths and conspiracy theories. 

Pisces and I were vaccinated as soon as the vaccine became available partly because we belong to a group that is most at risk should we get this virus but also because we can see the danger of our health system being overwhelmed as has happened in other parts of the world if it should become rampant in the community. Yes, vaccination won't stop us getting the virus but it will make it much less likely that we'll end up in hospital or die of it and for us those are very good reasons for being vaccinated. The health mandated restrictions that our governments are imposing whether it's lockdowns, social distancing, requiring check ins at venues or that masks be worn are all under temporary orders. They will be lifted. Freedom is not being taken away - following these restrictions is part of being a member of a community and keeping the population safe. The saddest part is that these protestors are putting the rest of us at risk by their behaviour.  I only wish they could see that.