(North Pole News Department) — Today marks just 8 months until Christmas. The North Pole, it seems, is busier than ever.

Santa Claus has officially cancelled all vacations plans and has grounded all sleigh flights from the North Pole until further notice.

Santa’s workshop, the North Pole Post Office, the Weather Department, the Wrapping Department, the Department of Christmas Stockings, and the Research and Development Department all remain operational as normal.

Other departments, such as ours with News and Public Relations, are operating with elves working from home.

According to Elf Dr. Lionel Spock, there are no known cases of Coronavirus or the Bah Humbug virus at the North Pole at this time.

It appears that work on Santa’s new sleigh is rapidly advancing. Since Santa returned to the North Pole work has started on building of the new prototype and we expect test flights of the new design to begin before too long.

In other news there is a rumor going around that Santa will be launching Toyvember soon. You might remember hearing about Toyvember from an episode of the North Pole Podcast. Toyvember is a special time when Santa charges the elves with inventing new toys by holding a special contest. It is a very big deal here at the North Pole. Most elves here think Santa will call a Toyvember soon because all vacations this year have been cancelled. If that happens we will let you know.

I can also tell you that a lot of meetings have been held about Christmas in July here at the North Pole. With everyone scheduled now to be here we think the celebrations will be bigger than ever. Santa is consulting with medical experts to see if it will be safe to gather large crowds of people together by then. Once he gets the go ahead then we will begin to announce plans.

In checking with the North Pole Post Office it appears many of you still have questions and concerned about Christmas this year and whether or not Santa will be able to deliver if the virus is still going around in December.

I asked Santa himself how to answer that question. He told me to tell you not to worry about it right now. The best experts in the world are working on the problem and Santa says we need to listen to them to do our part to help. Santa has several expert elves of his own and they are discussing strategies right now for December. But he cautions that a lot can happen in the months ahead. So he’s not going to worry about it until there is a reason to worry about it.

So please be careful. Listen to your parents, your teachers, your local health department, police, fire and safety officials. Santa feels things are going to be okay. Wash your hands, cover your coughs and sneezes, and be kind!

Until next month, friends.