Category: social distancing

Social Distancing vs Social Isolation and Hearing Loss

social distancing could also mean social isolation.

Social Distancing vs Social Isolation

This new year 2021 started where 2020 left off, hoping that this year is not the evil twin of last year.  Governments all over the world are advising to wear masks, hand wash, stay at home and  social distance.  Retail and the hospitality industries are the hardest hit economically with shorter hours of operations or closures for an indefinite period of time.  Vaccines are being created and administrated as a kind of hope against this relentless virus.  In the meantime, world citizens have to keep calm and keep safe by obeying government regulations.

One such regulation is to social distance, but for a person who is hard of hearing, social distancing could also mean social isolation.  According to a report from the American Speech and Language Hearing Association (ASHA), “hearing loss is the third most prevalent chronic health condition facing older adults”.  Most people delay getting tested and therefore can fall prey to the side effects associated with untreated hearing loss, such as depression, anxiety, dementia, heart disease, mental fatigue and social isolation, to name a few.

The outlook for hard of hearing individuals seems bleak, but getting a hearing test is important.  Hearing clinics are considered as essential services and are open with safety protocols for disinfecting and cleaning in place.  For more convenience and accessibility, the hearing industry has also embraced tele support via virtual consultations. 

Hearing clinics are still alive and well, ready to help those who need hearing services.  For more information contact the local hearing clinic. 

Single Dating and Social Distancing: 4 things to look for

  1. Can a single person find love while social distancing?
  2. What to do on a date while social distancing?
  3. How to date while social distancing?
  4. Red flags to look for dating while social distancing?
Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Can a single person find love while social distancing?

It can be lonely living in isolation in a one bedroom apartment or in a house with a lot more room with only the walls to talk to day in and day out. That laptop is getting boring as you binge on those episodes of you favorite show you just didn’t have time to watch before that Coronavirus took over your life and the world. Since then things have never been the same: no more drinks after work with the office friends, shopping with girlfriends, no weekend trips with a group of friends and finally, no first date nights.

What is there to do when there is the need to socialize and meet that special someone?

Dating sites are seeing spikes in online connections. Sites such as OKCupid are reporting a jump in daters sending more than 35 million introduction messages in March about 4 million greater connections than last year and a 5 % increase in long term relationships. ( Erin Carson of CNET – April 19, 2020) Match.com has even added a new feature a new video calling service Vibe Check for social distancing singles and a 1-888 number to ask questions with a Relationship Expert for free advise. Other dating sites are doing something similar.

Relationship experts are calling online connections with dating apps, streaming services and digital face timing the rise of modern courtship. The loose definition of courtship is a period of development leading to an intimate relationship. Basically, it is a time when the couple forms a bond.

Healthy communicating brings transparency into any kind of relationship and tackling these issues becomes easier. It helps to build trust –

lovebondings.com

Transfer of information from one person to the other is a good way to get to know someone; a great way to see if there is first, some kind of connection that can eventually lead further.

Meeting someone virtually may not be a bad idea. There are so many sites out there today that allow the user to feel safe while connecting to a stranger. But dating sites are still not for everyone.

If you do venture on one of these sites, take things nice and slow. Sometimes just connecting to someone as a pen pal is just as satisfying, because you get to share experiences and interests. Being a friend can help someone else having a hard time while being alone. And it is friendship that can last the longest when everything else is out of control. Remember everyone has some kind of agenda: bad or good.

Stay within the safety of the dating site. Some sites such as Christian Café and eHarmony have safety zones and strongly recommend at the beginning not to connect with personal e-mail or phone numbers but to use their messaging system for safety reasons. Be aware and stay safe.

Dating in 2020

There is no right answer for single folks out there to find friendship or love while social distancing. We have to adhere to government rules in order to flatten the curve so that things will come back to some kind of normalcy. What that new normal will look like is something we will have to wait and see, but we can discuss projections at a later date.

As a Born Again Believer, I like to pray first before jumping into anything new. Maybe praying about a matter before heading out wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Next up? What to do on a date while social distancing?

Remember be aware and stay safe…

3 major industries making a change because of Covid -19

In March of this year, Premier Doug Ford introduced the Ontario Together Fund where 50M is given to companies to retool to produce equipment for the Covid- 19 fight. Some companies from automotive sector to alcohol and spirits have answered the need for more equipment and products such as ventilators, surgical masks, face shields and hand sanitizers to help and to serve their local communities and to support front line staff. – CTV News: March 24, 2020

Prime One such industry is alcohol and spirits across the country and not just in Ontario. The Corby Sprit and Wine Ltd distillery in Walkerville which has been operating for over 160 years is now making hand sanitizers, so too is Top Shelf Distillers in Perth, Ontario; – CTV News by Alexander Mae Jones March 24, 2020. The call from the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for companies to step up and help the nation was answered by distilleries in B.C such as Ampersand Distilling Co to Yukon Brewing right across the nation to Deep Roots Distillery in P.E.I. A number of distilleries so many to list are lending their support.

Second: several Toronto Public Libraries are changing rows of books for shelves of food in order to meet the 53 % increase in client usage in Toronto due to lay offs and Food Bank closures because of Covid -19. Over 100 staff members from a number of Toronto libraries, volunteer to pack 500 to 600 hampers of food per day and hope to continue their efforts until the city gets back to normal.

Third: due to the growing shortage of flour Canada’s oldest water powered flour mill near London, Ontario called Arva Flour Mill is “going gangbusters to feed the demand from home bakers created by the coronavirus lockdown.” – Heather Rivers. They provide up to 300 to 500 customers per day which is four to five times more than normal. -London Free Press by Heather Rivers April 7, 2020.

Although the city if not the entire country is on lockdown where most of us need to stay home, some industries as mentioned and so many more not listed, are working hard to keep the country together and to do their part in this fight against Covid -19. United we stand O, Canada.

Two Reasons Why This is Not the New Normal

But for now in this early part of the year 2020, the beginning of this new decade, it is important to practise social distancing in order to flatten the curve so that things can get back to normal.

  • Humbertown Mall Social Distancing
Social Distancing in March 2020

Saying this is the new normal is like saying there is no hope.

Is it normal to stay in our homes for days, weeks or even months; some people live alone whereas others live with roommates, family or pets.  Is it normal to wear a mask out in public going to work or to appointments or just out picking up groceries? 

Is it normal to put a long awaited wedding, class graduation or birthday party online and have friends and family post in through social media because everyone in the city has to remain apart, at a two meter distance? 

That isn’t normal.  That isn’t living.  But for now in this early part of the year 2020, the beginning of this new decade, it is important to practise social distancing in order to flatten the curve so that things can get back to normal. Back to a time when socializing was to laugh, talk and be happy face to face without this virus hanging in the air. 

The days of getting together with friends and family for some kind of social aren’t gone forever.  This is only a bump along the road of life and rest assured, “all these things must come to pass. But the end is not yet.” (Matthew chapter 24: verse 8, KJV)

There is always hope and without having faith, hope isn’t possible

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” and hope does not disappoint us. (Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1 and Romans 5 verse 5, KJV)  

Covid Journal 2020

Social Distancing is introduced.

Covid Journal Week One

This is a first hand account of what it is like to live in a Canadian metropolitan city during this Coronavirus outbreak of 2020.

Journey of the Covid -19 while working

Day 1 Ghost train

Its Monday and I am going to venture down town.  There is the concern of proximity working in a busy city. Would someone breathe in my face or worse sneeze on me?  How could I avoid contracting this horrible, death dealing virus?

At the station, I could count the number of cars on both hands in the parking lot and on the platform there are no more than 10 people. The train arrives with a splatter of people onboard. Just like a Ghost Train.

 I rode this Ghost Train all the way to Toronto without a single soul sitting beside me. It takes a virus to give me Rockstar seating. By the time I emerge from hollow cavern called the subway and walk through the corridors of the bus terminal, I get that creepy, uneasy feeling that makes the hairs on the nape of my neck stand on end.  The place is almost deserted like I was walking through some horror movie set.

Day 2 Tuesday

Union Station

Ghost train arrives again but on this day the city is on emergency measures for a lockdown.  Schools will not be coming back after the March break, events are to be cancelled, no large gatherings of over 50 people, non essential services are to be closed except for grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants with take out capacities and alas, the piece de resistance, social distancing is introduced. 

What is social distancing?  Put simply:

Keep away from me, but be social because we need to flatten the curve.

How many times do we need to be reminded of flattening that curve?

A million times and ten times over until we do just that.

However, the words social and distancing are interesting because they are in direct opposition of each other.  Can you be social and be distant at the same time? 

The word social means gathering or a group or community getting together.  The word distance refers a numerical measurement of how far apart things are.  In 2020 amid this Covid -19 pandemic, we have to keep our distance from loved ones, friends, colleagues and fellow citizens. Social distancing is very important to help stop the spread of the virus.  Being face to face breathing in the air from someone who may have come into contact with someone with Covid-19 or who may have it and not yet realise it, is dangerous and contributes to the spread of the virus.

“It is a public health practise that aims to prevent sick people from coming in close contact with healthy people in order to reduce opportunities for disease transmission” hub.jhu.edu Katie Pearce What is social distancing and how can it slow the spread of Covid- 19

Keeping apart isn’t forever.  We have the hope that this thing can be reduced.  And the sooner we adhere to the advise of public health, the quicker we can get out and enjoy our lives again.  But for now, better to be six feet apart then six feet under. 

And the Lord, he it is that goes before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you, neither forsake you, fear not neither be dismayed.  Deuteronomy chapter 31 verse 8. ( paraphrased from the King James Version)