“Wow, are we inching toward normal life?”

That thought was running through my head while I taught last night’s Zoom class. As readers of this blog know, I’ve been teaching Zoom classes for nearly a year. After a long winter and spring, it was time for a change. Since the weather was glorious yesterday, I moved my laptop out to the garage. I set it on the back of the car and taught a Zoom class to some Ottawa students. It felt almost normal!

Location of last night’s Zoom class.

It was a nice change of pace. One problem was that the lighting was not exactly optimal toward the end of the class. I must explore moving the car out to the driveway for better lighting. Another option might be to teach the Zoom class on the back patio.

Okay, when can we expect actually to return to normal life?

In other words, when will the province re-open? The short answer is a solid date has yet to be set. See this chart released by the province recently.

Ontario’s Reopening Plan

As one can see, Step One of the re-opening is supposed to be triggered once 60% of adults have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. It appears that the province is on target. The province is anticipated to re-open by Monday, June 14th, perhaps earlier.

But…

You knew there was a “BUT” in there, right?

The Delta variant (aka the Indian variant) is now expected to dominate COVID-19 cases in Ontario soon. Given that the Delta variant has led to a surge of cases in the UK, there is some concern. As always, the concern is with hospitalizations and ICU numbers. Vaccinations will still be key here as the latest findings indicate they offer excellent protection against all existing variants. Unvaccinated folks will be at most risk of this highly transmissible variant. In any case, let’s keep an eye on the UK.

Hopefully, a combination of generally mild summers in Ontario (compared to the southern part of the US, for example) and the vaccine rollout will blunt any potential surge resulting from the Delta variant. A second dose strategy is needed to combat the Delta variant. Experts are urging Ontario to press ahead with the second dose campaign, which can only help in the grand scheme.

For now, I feel like we are inching back to normal life, and I hope to start teaching live soon! However, I recognize that the COVID-19 variants may throw a monkey wrench into the re-opening. Fingers crossed!

Note: As of this morning (June 4th), new cases in Ontario have risen four days in a row. It’s not entirely clear whether it’s from the long Victoria Weekend or due to the Delta variant. The real numbers to watch are hospitalizations, ICUs and those on ventilators. The current vaccine rollout should limit the Delta variant numbers. The question is the political impact on the government’s plan to re-open the economy. We shall see!

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