With covid restrictions lifting, everyone seems eager to get back out there and start living their lives again.

As the weather warms up, and we can open windows and get outdoors, the opportunities to mingle with family, friends and neighbours, and reengage in community activities are increasing.

Over the past few weeks, life in the Pontiac has been starting to get back to what we might call . . .

normal. Restaurants have customers again, children gather for outdoor activities, organized sports are starting up, St. Patrick’s Day celebrations have been held.

Plans are being developed to bring the Shawville Fair back in full force. The Pontiac Community Players are putting on performances, churches are opening for special services, weddings and funerals can go ahead without capacity limits, people are going on long-delayed trips.

This is all possible because, until recently, the number of covid cases here and across the country have been coming down. And it’s a good bet that it has had a lot to do with people taking the prescribed precautions: wearing masks, social distancing, getting vaccinated, and staying out of circulation when sick.

When a strategy appears to be working, it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to stop following it. Yet, this is exactly what is happening as the provincial governments of Quebec and Ontario – both of which happen to be in pre-election mode – are doing the popular thing and relaxing the very measures that helped prevent the spread of the virus in the first place.

There’s no question, we all want this to be over. As social creatures, we all need social interaction, not least children and teenagers. The mental health consequences of the pandemic should not be taken lightly. Getting back out to participate in community life is good for all of us, and for the Pontiac.

But we’ve also made the mistake in the past to rush back to normal life as soon as there was some sign the infection rate was letting up, only to be set back again and again.

Since the recent relaxation of preventative measures, numbers are already creeping up. For one thing, the effectiveness of vaccines administered last year is believed to be waning. Health experts tell us that covid will be with us for a long time. It is clear, we need to find a way to live with it.

In doing so, we need to keep in mind that, however much we might be fed up with the precautions, they have had the practical effect of enabling our hospitals, that were already overstretched before the pandemic, to stay open.

So, living with the virus does not mean we should pretend it isn’t here. It means finding ways to participate in social life that take into account its presence and the need to protect ourselves and others from it. This is the only way our lives can get back to something approximating normal, with kids in school, businesses thriving, full participation in community events, and all the things that make life great in the Pontiac.

The benefits of living in a community come with responsibilities for community members. We shouldn’t be too hasty to abandon those responsibilities if we value being part of that community.

And, if lifting covid precautions to the extent our government has is a political decision and not a public safety decision, we should remain cautious. Maintaining distance, wearing a mask, getting vaccinated, and staying home if we feel sick has been the successful strategy that has brought us this far.

Let’s not mess with success. We’ll just call it our new normal, at least for the time-being.

Brett Thoms