FEATURE DECEMBER 11, 2020
Celebrating during Covid-19 By:Skye Pancer
Coronavirus has taken a toll on the entire world, spreading to and infecting millions of people, 69.1 million worldwide cases to be exact. While there are over 1.57 million deaths in the world with confirmed cases rising by thousands each day, everyone is questioning how exactly they’re going to see their family over this upcoming holiday season. While some are ignoring the pandemic and planning to fly so they can come together as families, others are trying to figure out ways to stay safe and continue to reach each other while still being apart. Here are a few ways to virtually connect with your family over the holidays. Let’s start with the easiest and most obvious way: a
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video call. Even without phone service, there are several apps that you can use if you only have WiFi, such as Zoom, Skype, Google Duo, and several more. Video calls where you get to see all of your family while also doing activities with them, in return helps by reducing risks of exposure and the spread of Covid-19. If you’re on a video call, you can make cookies together and decorate them, make hot chocolate, or even have dinner. There are apps such as Kast and Google Chrome extensions like Teleparty that are easy to use for watching your favorite holiday movies together while staying apart! If you have someone here with you, such as a significant other or even
the family you live with, you guys can go get some warm drinks and drive around to see the holiday lights, maybe even go up to the plaza! While it won’t be exactly the same, I think it’s better than the risk of traveling. Flying itself has many risks, especially if someone’s flying between countries; you could expose or be exposed to COVID. Now, most people have relatives that live in other parts of the country, whether it be in the Pacific Northwest, the Deep South, or California coast, all of these places have been badly hit by this virus. They all still face the same issues and dangers; exposing or being exposed, and that’s terrifying. Many people don’t know or understand that even while being young they
are still at risk. Of course, these are people who aren’t at as much risk as our elder family members but, as we know, every single person is at risk with this virus. There are millions of people with health issues, and, knowing all health issues can be hard, maybe flying -or traveling in general- may not be the safest bet. These days, everyone is facing their own problems; 2020 itself has been an awful year, and with Covid having come to light during the holidays in 2019, we suspect holidays in 2020 will bring a huge surge of new cases and deaths. This could be awful for family members but, Skyping or Zoom calling could make separation during the holiday season better, even if it’s just a little bit.
