We have been hearing stories about people lining up for “miles” at airport and for Coronavirus testing. Will the airports be closed? Do I even want my kids flying home from their now closed Universities in close quarters with other people? We have been pricing airline tickets, which at first seemed to be going down, but currently seem to be rising – our major airlines seem to be cutting back on flights. At the same time our cross country railway is cutting service. This is all reasonable, just not economical for us!

But then our favourite (Enterprise Rent-A-Car) company sent an email offering students the ability to rent cars to get home from Universities and are waiving the age requirement for drivers. Normally, I believe drivers renting have to be 25 in Canada – but for now 18-24 year olds can take advantage of the offer! I thought that was a positive move so this is why I am sharing it! I’m not sure I want my son to take a 35 hour drive yet – but it’s an option now.

“We are reducing the minimum age and waiving young renter fees for rentals through May 31, 2020, to help students get home safely and ease the burden on families during this time.”

“Details
• Available to college students 18–24 years of age
• Official student ID must be presented at the time of rental
• Valid on economy through full size cars, minivans, small pickup trucks and cargo vans
• Offer valid at participating Canada locations only for car rentals reserved in advance
• Standard driver and credit requirements apply, except for the minimum car rental age per this offer
• Offer expires May 31, 2020“

On the health front we have been waiting for a very long time for a specific medical test for my husband which is unrelated to COVID-19. Our anxiety over getting this test done has been very high and we were very worried that it would be cancelled – as our health system has recommended cancelling any elective procedures. Complicating this, we saw news reports that there had been huge line ups at the hospital for COVID-19 tests.

“We are still seeing high volumes of people at our COVID-19 Assessment Centre. To ensure we can continue to safely assess patients already confirmed through registration before today’s closing, we are not screening any new patients today. For updates, visit our website.”

We arrived super-early having seen news footage of people being turned away at the hospital doors. I waited in the car – to keep socially distant of course. My husband went in – there were no line-ups, there was a kiosk (which didn’t get immediately cleaned – but my husband hand sanitized) for sign-in, very few people were wearing masks – but the hospital was remarkably empty. When he arrived for the test, the hospital staff were very kind and positive and explained that many people had cancelled in order to follow the self-isolating guidelines.

While I waited outside looking for the Coronavirus testing line up – this was the only line-up that I saw:

We are very concerned for our health care system’s ability to handle the future load of patients to come, and we pray that the social distancing, and school and business cancellations will prevent and alleviate this. We are at the same time concerned for the people that weren’t able to go to the hospital today for treatments and tests unrelated to COVID-19.

I feel encouraged that people, businesses, governments and health care workers are doing the best that they can in the circumstances.