Hobbies and radio interests aside, our 2020 pandemic has made this a lousy year. One we will all be glad to see pass into history.

I celebrated my 69th birthday on February 23, 2020. At the time, we were starting to hear about a new coronavirus spreading out of China. Two weeks later, our first Alberta COVID-19 case arrived with a Calgary resident returning from a California cruise. Ten days later our province began to shut-down, followed shortly by our first 2020 pandemic death here at home.

At the time, most of us really did not know how bad things would get and mistakenly thought the restrictions would just last a few weeks, maybe six. Our first wave seemed to end in May and by June lots was opening back up. Most of our big events, including this year’s Calgary Stampede, were cancelled though the NHL managed to finish its season. Then, during fall, our second surge.

All of us have spent time developing and implementing coping strategies. Part of mine was writing a series of Pandemic Ponderings on this blog. But, other than restricted in-person socialization, wearing a mask and six foot distancing, life went on.

Most of us know at least one person who has tested positive or been hospitalized. It’s hard to grasp that by the time the vaccine does its job, more people will have died from COVID in many countries than from all of World War II. And now, our Christmas family gatherings are on hold.

We are all going to have a lot of new government debt to service going forwards.

Year in Review 2020 Pandemic Politics

For me, the worst part of this pandemic has been getting sucked in to American politics. I started watching cable news – something new for me – to learn about COVID-19. Unfortunately, it became hard to separate public health from presidential dysfunction. You would always expect some tension between public health advice and the reaction of elected officials. But nothing like what happened with Trump.

I sat there in disbelief as I watched recommendations from the Task Force only to be trashed minutes later by tweets from the president. Thank goodness for the Asian countries like Taiwan, South Korea and Vietnam, in addition to Australia and New Zealand, who demonstrated that at least some politicians and populations can behave rationally.

I plan on leaving our Christmas decorations up until we can have a family turkey and gift day – even if that doesn’t arrive until spring!