It was a year ago this week the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic. On the North Shore, it was a year ago that we first got the news an elderly man at a local care home had become the first person in Canada to die of the virus. We saw the emotion with which Dr. Bonnie Henry made that announcement and knew the storm was coming.
Seniors in local care homes were the first victims of the virus, a situation which would be seen in all parts of the country. A year on, the elderly in care continue to bear a disproportionate brunt of COVID-19.
The pandemic showed us things we’d rather not confront about the way we treat the elderly and those who care for them.
Looking back, the early days of the pandemic seem strange: toilet paper hoarding and disinfecting grocery packages make as little sense now as they did then. There were those whose baser natures were revealed by attempts to price gouge essential supplies and those who stepped up: turning distilleries into makeshift hand sanitizer factories and mask production shops in their homes.
We have taken some positives in the past year: we’ve learned we can do many tasks – including working – remotely, effectively and we’ve embraced technology to make that happen.
We’ve learned that science has our back, but a global marketplace is a tough arena to compete in.
We’ve learned we can be resilient when we have no choice but to be.
We mark the solemn anniversary with genuine hope that the pandemic as we’ve known it will soon, slowly but surely, recede into our collective pasts.
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