Pandemic can't stop birthday hugs for Beryl's 80th

Beryl Cooke assumed that, like so many things these days, her 80th birthday celebrations were on hold for now because of COVID-19.

So she was puzzled when she stepped into the front yard of her home in the Okanagan city of Kelowna, B.C., on Friday to see a tall soccer goal covered with a thin plastic sheet. Plastic bags were taped over four armholes in the sheet. It was festooned with pink balloons, paper hearts and ribbon curls.

"What's going on out here," she asked her daughter, Cristi Cooke. "What's going on?"

What was going on was that family and friends were already lining up for a safe embrace in the COVID-19 friendly "hug machine" created for her by her family.

'It's been so long'

Her voice broke when she realized what the strange contraption was for. "It's been so long," she said. "I've been waiting so long." she said.

Cristi's original plan was to organize a drive-past birthday convoy so friends could deliver "air hugs."

Her sister Traci came up with the plan to build a device so her mother could experience real hugging, Cristi said,"because my mom, she's known for this."

"She is known as the hugger. That's her thing, that's her fuel, that's her nutrition."

For extra precautions against COVID-19 infection, family members set up a sanitation station next to the hugging machine. Everyone was required to use hand sanitizer and don a mask before stepping up for an embrace.

Beryl quickly got down to the business of catching up on hugs.

"Oh Ethel I've been waiting so long to hug you," Beryl told a neighbour. "You're the best hugger."

"Tiago, my sweet boy. I missed you," she told her grandson.

The octogenarian said she had not touched anyone outside of her immediate family since March 16.

"This is the only thing I miss during COVID," Beryl said. "I don't miss anything else."

With files from Brady Strachan