A new study by Forum Research provided exclusively to the Star suggests Omicron is forcing families to pare down festive gatherings.
Cancelling flights, paring down gatherings and wrangling rapid tests and booster shots have become the new hallmarks of the 2021 holiday season as the highly contagious Omicron variant has led to an explosion of COVID-19 cases in Ontario. Even some NHL teams will be staying at home.
And, with Christmas less than a week away, holiday plans are being quickly re-evaluated, or tossed out completely, according to a new study by Forum Research provided exclusively to the Star.
Fifty-one per cent of Ontario residents surveyed will be celebrating only with their immediate household, according to the poll, published Monday.
“Many people are playing it cautious … and kind of limiting social gatherings, both within their own home and limiting international vacations,” said William Schatten, vice-president of research and analytics at Forum Research.
Another 41 per cent say they will celebrate with their household and extended family, while seven per cent say they will celebrate uninhibitedly, without restrictions.
While it’s clear Ontarians are responding to the climbing case counts and new restrictions ushered in by the province on Sunday, it’s only half who are placing strict limits on gathering with their immediate household, said Schatten.
There’s a feeling of “overall fatigue with the pandemic” and people feeling more confident in taking risks due to being vaccinated, so the compulsion to stay home may not be as strong as it was in December 2020 when there was a stringent lockdown, he explained.
As well, the study showed only about 16 per cent of the people plan to travel internationally in the next three months, which covers the holiday season.
Close to 40 per cent said they will travel within six to 12 months from now.
“It’s very, very few people (travelling). For the winter holidays, looks like everyone’s going to hunker down again,” he said.
Forum’s poll, taken on Dec. 14, shows that those who are most concerned about the Omicron variant were the most likely to say they will only see their immediate household. About 70 per cent said they were very comfortable or somewhat comfortable gathering with vaccinated people outside their household.
There was more hesitancy around indoor dining with only 52 per cent saying they had any comfort doing so. About 75 per cent expressed hesitancy in gathering with anyone unvaccinated outside their household.
And Ontarians are adjusting plans accordingly.
Pia Berger and her partner were planning to spend the winter holidays walking along Nova Scotia’s beaches and seeing family they hadn’t visited in two years.
But, like many Ontarians, they made the difficult decision to cancel the whole trip due to an alarming rise in cases of Omicron, the highly contagious COVID-19 variant that is tearing through the province.
“It just looked like it was getting too out of control,” said Berger, a high school teacher in the East York neighbourhood of Toronto. They were supposed to visit her partner’s family, which includes his older parents and a young child who is not eligible for vaccination.
“There’s just a lot of anxiety. His parents are in their 70s, there’s worry there,” she said.
Berger said she and her partner aren’t going to make other plans in Toronto because they are concerned about Omicron’s spread.
“I don’t even know if we want to be getting together with other people in town, because everything seems so unsafe … it’s disappointing,” she said.
She said the “hunger games” rollout of the booster shot has also created more uncertainty and anxiety over a grim holiday season overall.
“There are not a lot of safe options. Hopefully, we can get down to the water and walk along the beach … not exactly a replacement for Nova Scotia shorelines,” she said.
On Sunday, Ontario reported 4,177 new cases of COVID-19, with 283 people hospitalized and 159 people in ICU due to the virus. Cases are now doubling every 2.7 days, according to weekend data from the Ontario science table.
New restrictions came into effect Sunday that reduced capacity to 50 per cent for indoor venues, limited indoor social gatherings to 10, and prohibits food or drink to be sold at movie theatres or arenas. Lines for free rapid tests have wrapped around buildings worrying health experts who are concerned about a lack of tests being available for those who need it most.
The NHL announced they are postponing any cross-border games through the Dec. 23 start of their holiday break, due to a surge of COVID-19 cases in the league.
The 2021 holiday season is once again bringing similar disappointments as the 2020 season had.
For Stephan Gerhardt, his plan to travel to his hometown of Toronto after two years away is going ahead, but with significant modifications.
Gerhardt, who lives and works in Washington, D.C., drove eight hours to see his parents in Burlington overnight Sunday. When he arrived, he and his parents shut themselves in for the holidays, he said.
“Originally I was going to come up for 10 days and spend a couple of nights in Toronto,” he said. He was hoping to stay at a hotel and see friends at restaurants and contribute economically to the city.
“I’ve just had to change the whole trip, I’m going to stay for five or six days. We’re not going out, we just want to spend time together and hunker down because it’s too risky,” he said.
His parents are older, and having them travel down to see him wasn’t an option. Gerhardt’s brother Ralph died in 9/11 and his parents weren’t able to come down to New York City for the 20th anniversary this year, he said.
“Delta was bad, but Omicron really has changed the risk level so significantly,” he said.
And while close to 80 per cent of Ontarians told Forum they are likely to get a booster shot, about 18 per cent said they don’t plan to get their children vaccinated and 40 per cent plan to, but have not done so yet.
That could also impact gathering plans as Omicron spikes, as some parents are holding out on vaccinating their kids due to concerns about side effects or that children are perceived to be less at risk from COVID-19, or they feel confident enough with adult household members being vaccinated, said Schatten.
“It plays a role here with the oldest demographics because they are more concerned about the pandemic, the higher risk demographic … so they tend to be more hesitant on integrating with households with children who aren’t vaccinated,” he explained.
With millions of kids having been vaccinated in the United States, it’s clear their chances of adverse outcomes if they catch COVID-19 are significantly higher than with the vaccine, said Dr. Andrew Boozary, the director of social medicine and population health at the University Health Network.
The CDC states on their website that the risks of COVID-19 for ages 5 to eleven “far outweigh” the risks of having an adverse reaction to the vaccine.
As well, it’s important to emphasize that the Omicron variant has the potential to cause “serious harm,” said Boozary. And two doses should not be considered “fully vaccinated” in the wake of Omicron — the third dose is crucial, he explained.
“What’s very clear this holiday is one of the best things people can do is get their third dose,” he said, along with limiting their interactions, masking, and improving ventilation.
It also takes weeks for the antibodies to build up, so getting a third dose now does not mean you’ll be protected for holiday gatherings, he added.
People are exhausted and are again having to make significant sacrifices this holiday season, and those decisions to stay home will make a difference, he said.
“This is a really dire stretch. That cannot be overstated,” he said. “So this is where we need to pull together to best respond to the clear messaging that’s there on the vaccine … so we can get through this holiday season together.”
Article From: The Star
Author: Olivia Bowden
