Like everyone else, in North America, I am sure, I followed the Coronavirus crisis unfolding in China during the Christmas break with little regard to the seriousness that was about to unfold. By March 8, it had washed upon the shores of Canada and seeped into Alberta. We had 3 confirmed cases in Alberta. No a big deal, right?
A week later, on March 15, the Government of Alberta had announced that the virus was beginning to spread within our province (59 cases) and called for the immediate suspension of school classes , including universities and colleges. What? We were all in shock, not knowing what that meant. Would the students be done school for the rest of the year? How would that look for our high school students? Do the teachers still go to school? Will we be expected to deliver courses from home? When will we be able to resume classes again? So many unanswered questions and a feeling of doom!
Staff at all the educational institutions waited with baited breath and mounting anxiety as we continued to head into work daily, not knowing anything. We were directed to clean out student's desks, lockers and get their materials ready for pick up by the end of the week. It seemed like that week would never end. It was like walking down a darkened tunnel, covered with rubber gloves and the smell of disinfectant lingering in the air. We were missing our classrooms full of faces and the sounds of children. We were not even give a chance to say good bye. It felt so cold, so brutal, so unfinished. We ended that week, still unsure of what the rest of our school year would look like and uneasy about how this virus was going to affect our families, social life, work life. Such a dreadful, ominous feeling.
By the following week, the Alberta cases of COVID-19 had increased to 259 cases. People were beginning to panic, buying stupendous amounts of toilet paper, yeast, flour and sugar. Walking in Walmart was an eerie experience. No one was talking, you couldn't even hear children crying (even though they were there), shelves were empty, everyone was taking large swaths to get around you. I felt like a bomb was about to drop from the skies. People, it seemed, were preparing for the end of the world and buying out everything they possibly could. Premier Jason Kenney declared a provincial health state of emergency on March 17 and the number of people allowed to gather in one area was 50. Our new normal was talking about the crisis and waiting until 4:30 to hear the daily updates from the chief medical officer, Deena Henshaw. More doom and gloom!
Teachers were finally given direction. We were to continue delivering our content, now online. We had restrictions on how many hours a week we were allowed to deliver per subject (e.g. grade 1-6 were to focus on LA and Math and only 30 mins/day on each; high school 3 hrs/wk/core subject). Now we had even more questions. What about those students who didn't have computers or even Internet? How would we get materials and assignments back and forth to students using paper based methods? How about our families that depended on our hot breakfast program? How were we supposed to deliver this content online? How were parents supposed to help their children? My grade 3/4 students had never even used online learning before, now I was to figure out how to teach them how to do this, remotely, AND get them to figure out learning at home. From the confines of our classrooms, we attended staff meetings via Google Meet, keeping that social distancing measure in place. We also figured out how to deliver classes to our students through Google Meet.
By the following week, the public education system was dealt the most defeating blow yet. Jason Kenney decided to lay off 26,000 education workers around the province. What? How was that even possible? It is said to be the "biggest mass layoff in Alberta's history" AND during a pandemic! Unthinkable. More unemployed people to add to the long lines of unemployed. Confirmed cases had now more than doubled, Alberta was at about 661 cases by March 29. Curiously enough, the death rates were not being noted as much, Alberta had only 8 deaths by then and many beginning to recover. Where was this in the news? This is important information that the public should be privy to just as much as the amount of confirmed cases. Nothing like putting more fear into the public. Fear leads to conformity.
As our lives moved into the month of April the cases in Alberta continued to rise, by April 6th we had 1348 confirmed cases, 24 deaths and 361 recovered. Canada's borders were now closed to non- Canadian travelers. No one was leaving or coming in, unless you were a citizen trying to return. You were expected to self isolate for 14 days before going out into the public. By Easter break, I was completely exhausted, both mentally and physically. I was never so glad to see an Easter holiday than I was this year. I spent all break, in a daze, not wanting to go outside of my yard. I did not want to be around the unsettling atmosphere of a supermarket. The supermarkets now had space restrictions; one way directions down the isles, spots (6 feet apart) marked on the floors at the line ups for the checkout. People wearing masks over their mouths and rubber gloves on their hands. Shelves still as empty as they had been almost a month prior but now there were purchasing limits on many of the items, especially toilet paper.
Did I mention, it felt like the Twilight Zone? That's how it felt when the first mention of the suspension of school classes occurred, I still feel the same way today. It's like a nightmare that won't end. As of April 25, Alberta's confirmed cases stood at 4233, 73 deaths and 1471 recovered. We are not sure when this will end. Saskatchewan and British Columbia are now talking about lifting some of the restrictions, they may be opening some schools and businesses. Hopefully, we will see some of these lift in Alberta soon. We must be flattening the curve somewhat.
Sitting here today, completing my taxes (lucky me) I am grateful that we have technology to keep us connected. I mean, I just Face-timed my mother for the first time a few weeks ago and I can "hang out" with my students in a Google Meet. I was even able to send my sister a virtual birthday card and her receive it ... on time. I even participated in a virtual 10k race, although it did not feel the same competing against runners that I could not see.
It is not easy for families to be isolated with nowhere to go. Remember to be kind and to keep in touch with your friends, neighbors. Make sure they are okay. We will get through this pandemic stronger than we were before and we will do this by staying connected. We will not let this virus defeat us, as child psychologist Jody Carrington would say, "Not today, Corrrrrrona!"