Pandemic Pleasures

Christmas is here.

Like many people around the world, Brazilians envy Americans for their Hollywood lifestyles – big cars, big houses. However at this time of year, it's Americans who envy Brazilians. For the ten percent of the world's population that lives below the equator, it's now summer vacation from school plus the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, followed four days later by Christmas, which is just the prelude to New Year's celebrations and Carnival. It's an embarrassment of riches.

This year will be different. The Covid pandemic has changed the holidays. No one is happy about avoiding parties at Christmas, and some people will choose to violate the rules of common sense and attend large gatherings. Christmas and New Year's without a celebration are incomprehensible.

Staying at home, social distancing, and avoiding parties are particularly difficult for Brazilians. Brazil is a “high-contact culture,” and Brazilians suffer more from a lack of social contact than Americans. High-contact cultures like Latin America and the Mediterranean countries maintain closer interpersonal distance while talking, make more eye contact, and speak more emphatically. In contrast, North America, northern Europe, and East Asia are low-contact cultures.

During the pandemic we must weigh the scales of our fate, deciding how much public exposure we can risk while waiting for the coming vaccine. Some people have not left their homes in nine months while others are boarding planes to beaches in the Northeast of Brazil or the Caribbean.

I took a plane excursion recently and discovered flying is easier under Covid conditions. The airports are less busy and seats in the airport waiting areas are X'd off to prevent crowding. All airport employees are wearing masks including the security guards and food clerks. Water fountains have been disconnected. On my two-hour flight, all the flight attendants were wearing masks. Passengers were required to keep theirs on at all times. No food was served, not even snacks. Upon arrival, no one was allowed to step into the airplane aisle. A flight attendant directed our orderly deplaning one row at a time.

For us quiet Americans, it's not a great sacrifice to miss holiday parties. There's nothing wrong with socializing and relaxation, but during the holiday season it can be a bit overwhelming in Brazil. In a typical non-Covid year, Christmas office parties are so plentiful they have trouble finding enough venues to host them; the celebrations begin in November.

Starting at age one in Brazil, every year requires a public testimonial to continued existence. Who remembers a party they hosted when they were a year old? In low contact cultures where vanity is a negative trait, throwing your own birthday party is considered narcissistic.

Besides the canceled parties, I'm also enjoying the Covid custom of a supermarket clerk checking my temperature as she sprays alcohol gel on my hands at the store entrance. While it's not a foolproof method for verifying the presence of the virus, it's better than nothing. Checking my own temperature is not something I'm doing at home. Knowing my temperature is normal, I'm more confident I'm not walking around with a virus or flu. Who knew a supermarket clerk would be so concerned about my health. It's endearing.

Additionally, thanks to the Covid fashion of conscientious mask-wearing, it's harder to recognize people. I find this helpful when trying to avoid nosey neighbors. If one calls out my name, I can apologize and claim I didn't recognize her and she won't be offended. Similarly, using a mask provides me with a half-cloak of invisibility. Should I suddenly need to perform a superhero activity, I'm ready. Masks look subversively cool, essential to a rebel's outfit.

Now that summer is here, masks can get uncomfortable with sweat. However, I've noticed I can walk uphill for thirty seconds, and with a damp mask fool myself into thinking I'm getting a CrossFit workout.

There's also the positive effect Covid had on the way Americans voted in the presidential election last month. In the past U.S. voting by mail was not the norm. About 30 million people voted by mail in 2016, but this year that number was more than 80 million. Many states make it bureaucratically annoying to vote by mail. This year because of the pandemic almost everyone was provided access to mail-in ballots without any hassle. Also, many states allowed early voting so it wasn't necessary to vote on election day and stand on long lines.

It was a nightmare for the election workers who had to count tens of millions of paper mail ballots by hand, which is why the final tally wasn't official until Saturday, four days after the election. Many of the election workers were volunteers eager to support the workings of democracy. However, the Covid shift in the voting procedure made it easier and safer on voters. The Pew Research Center reported 94 percent of Americans found voting easy this year.

Brazil still has better voter turnout than the U.S. with 80-90 percent of the eligible population voting. In the 2020 U.S. election, with the highest turnout ever, 163 million people voted, which is only 66 percent of eligible Americans. Of course, voter turnout is improved when there's a Brazilian law requiring that everyone vote with penalties for those who don't.

From a medical standpoint, the huge increase in Americans voting by mail meant the populace chose Covid caution over Covid deniers. Science and medicine won out over anti-vaxxers and stimulating the economy. For the more sensible, it was a declaration that Covid is not fake news. One million 600 thousand people have already died of the invisible virus worldwide, and there will be more in 2021. Hospital workers are praying desperately for a rapid rollout of the several promising vaccines.

Trump supporters, not surprisingly, weren't happy about the mail-in ballots; thus there's no guarantee they will still be in widespread use four years from now. Donald Trump, considered by this observer to be the worst president in American history, lost his bid for re-election, the first time an incumbent president was voted out after his first term in 40 years.

Meanwhile, the Covid crisis has had no effect whatsoever on many aspects of my daily life. For example, I was awakened the other morning by an industrial garbage collection. It was a flatbed trucks with a double-chain winch that picks up a full construction dumpster and drops off an empty one. I understand why they normally come at 5:30 a.m., as once the streets fill up with parked cars, it's impossible for the truck to pull up alongside the dumpster. However, these days the streets are empty of parked cars all day.

Other than needlessly being awakened at 5:30, I'm thrilled by the available parking and lack of traffic. Covid has made driving pleasant. There's no waiting for tables at restaurants. The malls aren't crowded and store clerks are falling over themselves to be helpful. Additionally, the drop in retail sales has produced a large upswing in global online sales. Until now, Brazilians have been slow to adapt to online shopping. Not only is online shopping safer for consumers during the pandemic, it offers a new avenue for business opportunities.

Especially encouraging is the increase in online mental health services, which are particularly critical these days. Suicide rates have increased dramatically in Brazil, a country where suicide was nearly unheard of 20 years ago. High-contact cultures rely heavily on socialization, and Brazilians are suffering from the mandates for isolation. Without an escape for festivities, there's been a drastic increase in domestic violence. With high unemployment, addressing mental health issues is of paramount importance.

I am grateful to the world's scientists that the first vaccines are already being distributed. Help is on the way if we can accept having small holiday parties this year. By using a little self-discipline toward social distancing, we'll stay healthy and future celebrations will be all the more exciting.

This essay appeared under a different title and in slightly different form on Brazzil.com.