Whether the term evokes warm images of carol singers and roaring fires or alcohol-fuelled family rows, it was a “normal Christmas” that Boris Johnson said was at stake when announcing the latest measures to combat the coronavirus.
Reiterating the need for hand washing, social distancing and masks, the prime minister said: “All that basic stuff is essential if we’re going to come out of this and allow people to have anything like a normal Christmas.”
As the nights draw in and infection rates rise, attention has turned to what exactly the nation’s biggest holiday will look like this year – with restrictions on households mixing and strict curbs on hospitality already in place across much of the country.
“It’s way too early to think about Christmas,” a WHO official told the Guardian. The official, who did not want to be named, said a model could be built of what the situation might be by the festive season but there was no way people could make reliable judgments at this time.
If we want restrictions eased for Christmas, then a two-week “circuit breaker” lockdown – as was recommended by the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) – needs to be implemented sooner rather than later, said Prof Susan Michie, a psychologist on a subgroup of Sage.
“There are two parallel narratives: one is this “let’s look forward to Christmas”, reassurance, optimism, hope for the best, whatever it might be, running in a totally different universe from the reality on the ground of what this virus is doing and what all the evidence, both from the scientific literature and from other countries shows,” said Michie, who is also a member of Independent Sage.
“When you look at the other countries, the ones who’ve done what Sage was suggesting three weeks ago are the ones that … have got a fairly normal life now and will be able to celebrate Christmas if that’s what they want to do.”
While the chances of a restriction-free Christmas are poor, it won’t be the first time a religious festival has been celebrated during the pandemic. During Ramadan and Eid-al-Fitr, the celebration marking the end of the month of fasting, Muslims participated in virtual communal breaking of the fast and prayers. The Ramadan Tent Project, which organises community iftars (the nightly breaking of fast), moved them online and for Eid offered children’s activities such as storytelling and crafts. In the US, the Council on American-Islamic Relations encouraged people to take and share a picture “highlighting something positive, something you are grateful for on this very unusual Eid”. Writing in the Guardian, Aisha Riaz said that while celebrating Eid on her own was a first, “let us be grateful for the technology that makes it possible to see and talk to our loved ones at the touch of a button”.
James Lovell, director of the Ministry of Fun Santa School, which trains professional Father Christmases, is sure that people will adapt at Christmas where necessary. “We’re not getting too panicky and thinking that Christmas is ruined, we are just having to think about how Father Christmas can meet with people this year – it may have to be on smartphones and iPads and tablets instead of face to face,” he told the PA news agency. “We’ve done it before, with children who are abroad or in hospital.”
In the age of streaming, Christmas TV may not be the same unifying force it was in years past but – be it the Queen’s speech or Top of the Pops Christmas special – it can still provide shared experiences. For Independence Day in the US, the Capitol Fourth concert in Washington DC was pre-recorded and broadcast on television. The century-old Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest also went ahead – with Covid precautions – and was screened.
And then there is always the very small chance that we luck out and a vaccine is delivered in time for the festive season. For Keith Neal, emeritus professor in the epidemiology of infectious diseases at the University of Nottingham, this seems unlikely but not unthinkable.
“I can’t see that large households should be meeting up until we have a vaccine. [But] that [a vaccine] is not impossible,” he said. “I mean, I wouldn’t put money on it unless you gave me very good odds – I’d want at least 10/15-1 for significant vaccine delivery by Christmas – but it’s not impossible.”
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