Windsorites say they intend to follow holiday recommendations

Jessica Ruxton's extended family will be celebrating Christmas in July of next year.

That's because the Windsor photographer intends to follow public health guidelines the province announced Wednesday on celebrating the holiday season. The recommendations are intended to slow the spread of COVID-19, and include celebrating the holidays in-person only with those you live, and virtually with everyone else. People living alone can celebrate with a single additional household.

"It's sad to not see all of your family at Christmas time. Sometimes you only see your family at Christmas time," Ruxton said.

She said her extended family has already made plans for a much later — and much warmer — Christmas celebration next year.

"Me and my extended family are planning on doing a Christmas in July instead," she said. "So we'll plan on doing that and we'll just stay with our immediate families at Christmas time."

Windsor-Essex has seen a sharp increase in the number of COVID cases in the past month. On Wednesday, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit reported 42 new cases, which brings the number of active cases in the region to 341. The province reported 1,373 new cases Wednesday.

Its rising case numbers has experts skeptical over whether in-person holiday gatherings can be done safely.

"This won't be a popular answer, but sadly I don't think [family gatherings] will be a safe thing for us to do in most areas of Canada," Dr. Susy Hota, medical director for infection prevention and control at University Health Network in Toronto, said in response to a question posed on CBC's The National.

Protecting family a motivator 

Katherine Langford, a print shop owner in Windsor, says she'll follow the recommendations.

"It's a little bit of a bummer, but if I'm protecting the rest of my family, it's worth it, it's not a big deal," she said.

"My uncle is 70 years old, he was just undergoing some radiation therapy for some cancer. My sister and I both have immune issues, my dad's 70," she added. "So we're just going to be staying home in our own little homes, maybe doing small turkey dinners or something, but nothing big — not getting together."

Nicholas Meloche, a student at St. Clair College, says he'll follow the recommendations for the same reason — to protect his family.

"I will be following the rules," he said. "We've got a lot of elder people in my family, and you definitely want to take care of those people."

Langford said she's talked to people who have had large gatherings for other holiday celebrations, and that makes her uneasy looking forward to the holidays.

"I think we are going to see those numbers go up before they start to go down," she said.

Getting through a tough time

"No question about it, it's going to be very difficult," said Frank Farley, a professor of psychological studies in education at Temple University in Philadelphia. 

Farley believes that despite the recommendations and public health measures put in place, we'll see "tremendous resistance," but most people will follow them in the holiday season.

"We now know [the virus] can be death-dealing, and that's become very clear — that the socializing side of our lives is lethal, or can be lethal," he said. "We really are beginning to take a look at that fabulous equation, life versus death, and that people will be choosing life a lot more going forward."

He points out that humans are social animals, particularly when it comes to family. He says having to be separate from them during such an important time of the year may lead to stress, depression, frustration and may coincide with an increase in paranoia as the number of COVID cases continues to climb.

So what's his advice for staving off the holiday blues? Never give up hope.

"I would like to quote Winston Churchill ... '"If you're going through hell, keep going'" he said. "We haven't overcome the virus yet. We'll get there — but we haven't done it yet. And so we have to simply keep going. That's the story of the human race."