Isle Of Man Hosts New Year's Day Swim Despite COVID

There are certain traditions that persevere, even in COVID times, and one of them is jumping in freezing cold water on New Year's Day.

It went down per usual in the Isle of Man, where hundreds of folks said shrinkage be damned and jumped into water with temps below 50 degrees.

The tradition started back in covered wagon days ... 1983, where 4 dippers jumped in the icy water to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis.

Ever since then, there's been a growing number of dippers and more charities have been included in the mix.

This time around the folks ran into the water at Peel Beach, but there were new concerns -- COVID. Obviously, no masks and no real social distancing.

The island has handled the pandemic better than most. It went into total lockdown in March, and since June they have avoided massive outbreaks and the kids are back in school.

They've also closed their borders, to further protect the 85,000 residents.