The reports are all over the news-the second wave of COVID-19 is now here. Just in time for the holidays come new mandates on businesses and your personal lives. Gather if you dare; state governors will threaten you and the media will shame you if you do not.

We have reasons to celebrate, but—and you knew there was a but—a devastating surge is now under way. And worse, we are entering this dreadful period without the kind of leadership or preparation we need, and with baseline numbers that will make it difficult to avoid a dramatic rise in hospitalizations, deaths, and potential long-term effects on survivors.”-Zeynep Tufekci, The Atlantic

You can celebrate, in the streets, a Presidential win if the candidate is a Democrat. You can harass those, in the streets, who happen to stand and rally behind the current President. But to think you can get together with your families for dinner is preposterous. You are part of the problem of selfish America if you want to gather, is the way the narrative spins.

Attendance

Gatherings that include more than 3 households are prohibited. This includes everyone present, including hosts and guests. Remember, the smaller the number of people, the safer.
Keep the households that you interact with stable over time. By spending time with the same people, risk of transmission is reduced. Participating in multiple gatherings with different households or groups is strongly discouraged.
The host should collect names of all attendees and contact information in case contact tracing is needed later.-California Department of Public Health

Tell that to Governor Gavin Newsom or California’s own, Nancy Pelosi. Gather, Californians, if you dare.

Both indoor and outdoor social get-togethers are limited to six people, total, from no more than two households. In the past, Brown has described social get-together measures as “self-enforced.”-KTVZ

Tell that to Portland Commissioner, Jo Ann Hardesty, who went to a gathering at a casino in Washington last week and also proposed an $18 million-dollar cut to the Portland Police Bureau’s budget all while (mostly white) individuals continue to trash her city in the name of racism or something. Gather, Oregonians, if you dare.

Just this morning, Washington’s Jay Inslee chimed in:

Inslee, Sunday morning, ordered restaurants and bars to shutdown indoor service and to limit outdoor service to parties of five or less. Indoor gyms and fitness centers must also shutdown. Same with movie theaters, bowling alleys and museums. Indoor gatherings with people outside your household will be prohibited unless participants have quarantined for at least a week and tested negative.”-The Seattle Times

Gather, Washingtonians, if you dare. You can gather outside, in a limited group, though. (Ummm…has anybody experienced November and December in Washington? Try having a Thanksgiving dinner in a park!)

As I was at the local grocery store today, I was dodging crowded aisles in my mask, trying not to hit people with my large cart, trying to be respectful of “social distancing” which was virtually impossible to achieve with the sheer volume of people in that store. Paper towels were gone as was the toilet paper. As I placed my odds-and-ends for Thanksgiving on the checkout conveyor belt, I got hit with Joe Biden’s face on a magazine cover calling for “unity”, which I found ironic because the Democrats are doing everything they can to separate us. I thought how much smaller of a gathering we will be having this year. My parents and my husband’s parents are petrified. So terrified, they have made it blatantly clear that they will not gather with us all until a vaccine-until who knows? This could go on in perpetuity.

COVID-19 is serious and I do not fault our elderly parents for wanting to stay put. I understand it, as they are more compromised than us “kids”. I want to see them live long and be happy but I would argue that individuals locking themselves up during the holidays also takes its toll on their emotional well-being and in turn, their physical well-being. The rainy months in the Pacific Northwest are upon us. These months-paired with mostly cloudy days and little daylight stage the perfect setting for the triggering of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). People are shut-ins enough up here in the winter months. This season in the PNW is hard for most…even if one takes the pandemic out of the equation. Let’s pile on top of this loneliness job losses, unemployment, economic instability. Yet, our governor sits in his comfortable home with his family and tells individuals to remain strong-even though some are staring down another round of economic hardship.

Yes, we want to be careful. Yes, we want to see our families around and come through all of this. Yes, we are willing to take precautions. We are not stupid. We don’t want to harm our compromised members of our family. We don’t want to tax our healthcare system. But at the very same time, the very liberals who are telling us NOT to gather during this time have a different view on the value of life when their political ideologies are put under the microscope. Don’t kill grandma, but you can kill the baby if it’s an inconvenience. These very liberals are fine with large celebrations for President-Elects (as long as they’re Democrats), and are seemingly fine to hold protests in the streets (again, as long as you’re Democrat). Heck, some good, little, spoon-fed Democrats can even travel to see family for your to gather as long as they throw up politically-correct bile on their social media pages. Eat that turkey with more than three households? You’ll get the COVID. The grim reaper is coming after you. Gather your ammo and toilet paper. Gather if you dare or dare to gather in the name of freedom. It may be our only hope of normalcy this holiday season.

Photo Credit: FlickR/Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)/Cropped