Montserrat Parello lost her husband eight years ago, and Christmas gatherings with children and grandchildren had helped her deal with her loneliness, but this year, the 83-year-old will be alone for the holiday at her home in Barcelona, Spain, due to the risk of infection from COVID-19.
“In these days of pandemic, I feel loneliness and anger,” Parello said, expressing fears that “I will leave this life devoid of affection, of warmth.”
All most people wanted for Christmas after this year of pandemic uncertainty and chaos was some cheer and togetherness. Instead many are heading into a season of isolation, grieving lost loved ones, worried about their jobs or confronting the fear of a new potentially more contagious virus variant.
Photo: AFP
Residents of London and surrounding areas cannot see people outside their households. Peruvians are not allowed to drive their vehicles over Christmas and New Year to discourage visits even with nearby family and friends. South Africans will not be able to go to the beach on Christmas Eve today, Christmas Day or New Year’s Day next week.
The patchwork of restrictions being imposed by local and national governments across the world varies widely, but few holiday seasons will look normal this year.
People the world over are facing wrenching decisions — to see isolated elderly relatives despite the risk, or to miss one of the potentially few Christmases left in the hopes of spending the holiday together next year.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The US has not issued nationwide travel restrictions, leaving that decision to state governments, but a federal agency is advising people to stay home.
Michelle Dallaire, 50, an attorney in Idlewild, Michigan, said that this would be her first Christmas away from her father, who lives in northern Virginia.
They have always gotten together with family for the holidays, but decided that it was not worth the risk this year.
Photo: AP
“It’s sad, but better than never seeing him again,” said Dallaire, who has health issues that also make her particularly vulnerable to the novel coronavirus.
In Brazil, Francisco Paulo made a similar decision to skip a visit to his elderly mother in Sao Jose do Belmonte.
The 53-year-old doorman will work the holiday instead at a building in Sao Paulo.
“Now I’m hoping to drive there in May, and crossing my fingers that she’ll be vaccinated by then,” Paulo said. “It isn’t a happy Christmas, but at least I’m healthy and so are all the people I love.”
However, some who have survived sickness — and everything else that this year has thrown at them — are looking to rejoice.
Elisaveta Tomova, an anesthesiologist in North Macedonia, is exhausted after months of helping women with the virus give birth and caring for her 26-year-old son, who became infected himself.
“I have faced a nine-headed monster, and my son and I have beat it,” the 54-year-old said. “All I need now is my family to be around me, to celebrate in silence and to fill my heart with joy.”
Many people head into the holidays facing financial uncertainty after lockdowns to slow the spread of the virus have destroyed economies.
Matteo Zega, a 25-year-old Italian chef who has worked in Michelin-starred restaurants, lost a job offer in France when bars and restaurants there were ordered to remain closed until the middle of next month.
He is hoping to start an internship in Copenhagen — as long as restrictions do not scupper that plan, too.
“It makes me stressed, but at the end of the day, I wouldn’t complain when there are so many people suffering or dying,” Zega said. “You can lose many things: jobs, money, but I’m here, I’m healthy.”
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