Pam O’Donnell didn’t get to see her grandchildren open presents last Christmas morning.
Her Christmas dinner featured only her and her partner.
In 2020, New Brunswick limited travel between Public Health Zones and restricted Christmas gatherings to residents’ “Steady 20” – which meant, living in Bathurst, she couldn’t host her out-of-town family or go see them either.
“I didn’t even get to see my sister last Christmas,” O’Donnell says.
“She’s in Fredericton, and my mom and dad’s graves are there, usually I visit at the same time… And I didn’t even get to do that last year.”
This year, O’Donnell says recently tightened measures (which again limit gatherings to one’s Steady 20) still work for her to have a more “normal” Christmas – but says she’s going to forge ahead with that plan even if things get locked down further.
“Maybe it’s not right for me to say this, but we’re doing it regardless,” she says.
The province announced Monday that it wouldn’t fully move to “Alert Level 2” – but instead tighten things up under Level 1.
This means inter-regional travel can happen for now, but Premier Blaine Higgs is not ruling out even more measures in the days to come.
“We could be back here on Wednesday talking about a full Level 2,” he said at Monday’s COVID-19 briefing.
Level 2 would see gatherings restricted to two-household bubbles – which on paper would mean O’Donnell and her partner would have to choose between visiting her sister or hosting just one of her children and their families.
She says she’s not willing to make that choice. Not this year.
“Once those memories are gone you can’t go back to that year and get them back again. It’s losing valuable time with family members.”
She’s not alone in planning for the possibility that her holiday gathering might not meet provincial requirements.
“We’ve been kind of skirting the restrictions under the table like I suspect a lot of people have been in order to accommodate everyone,” says Cathy LeBreton.
Like O’Donnell, LeBreton also says her usual gatherings aren’t very big – but should that move to Level 2 take place, even the small one she hosted last year wouldn’t fly.
“It was just myself and my daughter and a friend who was stuck in Moncton,” she says, “and my daughter invited her boyfriend and we had a little gathering.”
“It was a very small intimate gathering with, I suppose, more than two households in it.”
In the past, New Brunswick has implemented an anonymous tip line if you see a neighbour going over current gathering limits (colloquially referred to as a COVID snitch line).
Some who have “skirted the rules” have even been given tickets.
LeBreton says that threat is unfair.
“Christmas is a stressful enough time without stressing about the police coming to knock on your door to see how many people are sitting around your table,” she says.
“If they come and try to barge my door down and see how many people I have in my house, they’re going to have a fight on their hands.”
She notes she’ll be staying home no matter what, should she feel sick, and hopes everyone would.
New Brunswick has previously said fines for failing to follow regulations under the Public Health Act could range from $172.50 to $772.50.
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