How disagreements about COVID-19 have driven families, friends apart
CBC
As Kristin Quinney cradled the body of the son she had lost to a miscarriage, her pain was magnified by the knowledge that she couldn't tell her family.
"I didn't think I could take hearing that I killed my child by getting vaccinated, which is what I thought that they would say," the 38-year-old from Martensville, Sask., said through tears.
By that time in September 2021, her relationships with her mother and especially her brother had already been estranged by the pandemic, particularly vaccination, Quinney said.
"I was really, really scared about their reactions and what they would say to me. I couldn't handle [it]. I mean, you're already feeling gutted."
Quinney, who already has two daughters, doesn't believe the COVID-19 vaccines had anything to do with her losing her son. She said miscarriages have been around throughout human history.
"But we don't talk about it very much."
A recent survey by the Canadian Hub for Applied and Social Research (CHASR) at the University of Saskatchewan in partnership with CBC Saskatchewan found that more than 31 per cent of respondents had reduced contact with a friend or family member over the past year because of differing views or opinions.
Almost 94 per cent of those who had reduced contact said the split was caused by opinions about COVID-19.
Quinney said the relationship with her brother already had cracks prior to the pandemic due to different political opinions.
Last spring, when things got worse because of COVID-19, she unfriended her brother on Facebook and blocked his phone number.
"I don't get to talk to my baby brother anymore because he couldn't agree that it was OK for us to have opposing views," she said.
Unexpectedly, the relationship between Quinney and her mother also started to get more complicated. The two women still have contact, but it is not the same anymore, said Quinney.
Even her two daughters know they should avoid the topic at grandma's house, she said.
"I'm very careful what I say and careful with my words. You know, you're always kind of walking on eggshells."
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