About. . .

This website is meant for family historians. Readers will find information about how people and communities were impacted by natural phenomena – or Mother Nature. Blog posts will present examples of actual events and how families coped with them. Links will be added to websites and articles that may assist genealogists looking for specific data about certain areas.

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Diary: Living with a pandemic 27 (Sunday 12 April 2020)


A different kind of Easter…

Normally on this day we might be with family and friends, enjoying a great dinner cooked by my sister. She is the ultimate chef and host for special occasions.

So this one is different.

I did go shopping yesterday – early morning at the special time for seniors. There must have been all of ten of us in the store, beside the staff. Almost everything was available, except for TP of course. One day I will be surprised and find a whole aisle full of it. Good thing we ordered a large batch in January, before the scare hit. We won't have a special meal today - just left-overs probably as they are not going to waste these days.

Every country and state that I have seen information about has made a travel exemption for the Easter Bunny. That is so good to see as children must really wonder why Mom and Dad are home all the time and they are hearing scary news.

Following are some reports from various news outlets and websites:

An example is this note from New Zealand: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared the Easter bunny was an “essential worker”, ensuring the rabbit was free to deliver chocolate to Kiwi children this Sunday. But she said even the Easter bunny may have trouble finding chocolate during the pandemic.“If the Easter bunny doesn’t make it to your household, then we have to understand that it’s a bit difficult at the moment” Ardern said.

In Belgium, The Royal Belgian Association of Chocolate, Pralines, Biscuit and Confectionary (Choprabisco) is donating 10 million Easter eggs, sweets and biscuits to help care home residents and workers looking after vulnerable people.

In the UK, Cadbury has donated 13,000 Easter eggs to the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton, in a show of appreciation for NHS workers.

One bakery in north-central France has taken a page out of the health safety playbook and adorned its chocolate Easter Bunnies with white masks, made of white marzipan and gently placed over the bunnies’ mouths and noses.


Children across Ontario will still be able to get their holiday chocolate as Premier Doug Ford officially deemed the Easter Bunny an essential service amid the coronavirus outbreak. “It’s so tough for the younger kids to explain what is going on right now … the kids have simple things they are worried about,” Ford said at a news conference Tuesday.

Closer to home, Alberta’s Premier Jason Kenney shared a very nice Easter present in announcing that the province is sending shipments of PPE to Ontario, Quebec and Ontario. In response to an email sent to him by an 8-year-old girl in Calgary named Veronica asking if the Easter Bunny was cleared to make his rounds this weekend throughout Alberta, he said, “I’m pleased to assure you we have declared the Easter Bunny as an essential service and there is no travel ban,” Kenney remarked.

Even the World Health Organization gave EB the all clear. According to a letter from the desk of the Easter Bunny, the World Health Organization (WHO) has cleared the animal to make drop-offs on Easter Sunday. “The Easter Bunny has been tested as a precaution and is clear of the virus and any symptoms and will take all proper precautions to ensure that it cannot be passed from house to house along the usual drop-off route," reads the letter. So while the rest of us still need to stay home and practice social distancing, the Easter Bunny will be allowed to do his essential job.

Good to know some traditions will not be ignored this year.

Happy Easter to everyone. Our new mantra, we will get through this together, just a little further apart.



No comments:

Post a Comment