‘You appreciate every moment’: Curling fans reflect on pandemic anniversary

It’s an anniversary no-one is celebrating, but is hard to ignore.

Saturday, March 11, marks three years since the global COVID-19 pandemic was declared.

At the Brier Original 16 Patch, the party-place associated with the championship curling event, it’s almost as if it never even existed. There’s live music, socializing, and games.

Tyson Tribble, who operates the Cool Shots curling game, said he no longer takes good times for granted.

“You appreciate every moment that you’re out, right? You get to go out, talk to people, do everything. It’s good on a lot of people’s mental health too,” said Tribble.

Soon after that fateful declaration, lives were turned upside down. Lockdowns were put in place, businesses shuttered, and many of us were sent home to work.

Original 16 Patch disc-jockey Derek Schwartzentruber of Schwartzentruber Music Services lost out on several months’ worth of bookings. As he looks around the Brier Patch room he remarks on the drastic changes.

“Big event like this that wouldn’t happen a year ago, two years ago, is happening, and honestly being here all week, I haven’t seen a single person wearing a mask, whereas a year ago you’d see a lot of people wearing masks still out of caution,” he said.

The 2020 Brier took place in Kingston, and the pandemic took hold soon after. Curling fans Shelly Torkin and her cousin Tammy Burns attended the event and remember the time well.

“Literally just after the Brier pretty much everything shut down with COVID,” explained Burns. “We just got it in really.”

Torkin laughed as she recalled the moment they realized toilet paper had become a hot commodity, as the rare tissue was being hoarded.

“That was the toilet paper. You couldn’t find the toilet paper before. I come up and she’s like ‘I wonder why,’” she said.

A news release from the Middlesex London Health Unit states there have been “more than 1.5 million COVID-19 cases in Ontario and more than 16 thousand related deaths. According to the latest MLHU COVID-19 dashboard update, there have been 48,725 reported COVID-19 cases in London and Middlesex County, as well as 527 related deaths.”

Medical Officer of Health Dr. Alex Summers tells CTV News we’re transitioning to a new normal.

“We will never go back to the way things were before the pandemic,” said Dr. Summers. “COVID as a virus will always be with us. We will always have to be diligent, be it being updated with our vaccines, sometimes wearing a mask, always washing our hands, of course, but we’ve come so far.”

As for Tribble, he’s just glad to be back in action.

“You know what? It’s pretty good, because you know COVID, it really screwed everything up,” said Tribble.