Winnipeg Thanksgiving COVID Update

October 9, 2020October 9, 20202 years ago Mark Adam 3 min read

As families “gather” this weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving, there is a lot of anxiety in the air. Schools are advising parents to reconsider any mixed-home gatherings, and reminding people to keep groups as small as possible. One recommendation is to have your dinners through online video calls, in order to maintain social distancing.

If you head over to the Manitoba Government’s website, they have all the tools and resources to help you make educated decisions about how you should proceed and with whom you should do so.

Current statistics, as of the time of this post, are in this graphic (courtesy of the RestartMB website).

Our active cases are presently over 850, which is quite high, considering that there have been 2344 total cases sin the virus originally hit the globe. That means that we are in a very high-risk situation in the province. This alone should be enough information to convince even the most stubborn humans to tone down any plans for multi-family Thanksgiving celebrations.

Might we be so bold as to suggest a couple video call software options?

Personally, I prefer this platform. Google Meet is browser based, so since most people use Chrome anyway, there is no software to download. It’s quick, clean, and has some handy tools. Also, only one person really needs to know how to use it, everyone else can just click a link. There is a mobile app if you want to participate in a call from a mobile device.

Zoom has absolutely blown up since the lockdowns started happening, and for good reason. The software is solid, once you’re in a call. It’s fairly easy to use, but there is a little tech-savviness required.

Houseparty bills itself as a face to face social network, and it’s pretty accurate as far as descriptors go. It does require an app download, but they have an app for every platform, and all of them are pretty easy to use.

Facebook has recently launched “Rooms“, likely as a direct response to Houseparty’s newfound popularity. It’s pretty easy to use. If everyone in the family has facebook, this is a solid option.

Stay safe out there, everyone. And be good to one another. These are stressful times, so err on the side of kindness whenever possible. Use these tools, or any others we didn’t list, to help you stay socially connected while being physically distanced.

Have a great weekend, all!