COVID-19 surge amid Omicron dampens Christmas celebrations for a second year
Global News
With limits on social gatherings and restrictions on travel amid COVID-19 Omicron variant spread, Canadians are keeping celebrations low-key within the households.
For the second year in row, the COVID-19 pandemic has scaled down Christmas celebrations in Canada as the highly-transmissible Omicron variant sweeps across the country.
Ahead of the holidays, several provinces reintroduced restrictions on social gatherings in an attempt to blunt the impact of Omicron, which is increasingly contributing to a rapid rise in case counts, according to public health officials.
In Ontario, no more than 10 people can attend indoor social gatherings — down from 25 — and there’s a maximum of 25 attendees at outdoor social gatherings, down from 100.
The province set a new record for daily COVID-19 infections for the second straight day with nearly 9,600 infections reported a day before Christmas.
A recent poll published on Dec. 20 by Forum Research suggested 51 per cent of Ontarians will cancel holiday gatherings and celebrate within their household only.
Hamilton resident Alyssa Beauchamp is among those. The stay-at-home mother of four will be having a quiet Christmas dinner at home with the kids and her fiancee’ and will drive by to see other family members.
She said “it’s frustrating” to not be able to gather with loved ones as they normally do on Christmas Day.
“It’s unfortunate that people are expected to stay home and not see their families. We’ve been in lockdown for two years, going on three,” the 23-year-old said.
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