BC’s top doctor says the day the first British Colombian died on COVID-19 marked a turning point in her outlook for a pandemic.
“in retrospect [on] I was really scared that day. Knowing that this year will be a tough and emotional year, Dr. Bonnie Henry of the State Department of Health said.
At a press conference on March 9, 2020, Henry was visibly upset when he announced that a man in his 80s who lived in the Lynn Valley Care Center in North Vancouver had died after being infected with COVID-19. .. His death was Canada’s first death from the virus.
More than 20 people living in the house will eventually die after getting sick.
“For older people, it’s very clear that it can cause very few symptoms, but it can lead to death very quickly,” Henry said.
Since March last year, 1,391 British Columbia residents have died from the virus. More than two-thirds of deaths are in the elderly over the age of 80 and occur primarily in long-term care facilities.
Long-term care increases deaths
Gary Moncton was one of the earliest victims of COVID-19 on April 2. The 77-year-old was infected at the Halo Park Care Center in Vancouver’s West End.
“I last met on March 14th,” recalled her daughter Samantha Moncton. “In the hallway, I heard that COVID is in North Vancouver, but I haven’t reached the West End yet, but it was like predicting what’s going to happen.”
Moncton says her father was the 31st person to die in BC.
According to Henry, learning about the new death has never been easier. The once-daily, now bi-weekly press conference held by Health Minister Henry and Adrian Dix has always expressed condolences to health officials for new victims of the virus.
“People tell me they are grateful that I recognize the importance of their loved ones,” Henry said. “I feel all of them, and I have reached out and connected with many families.”
“At that moment, every day [when we learn that people have passed away] It’s the most difficult news to get every day. “
Henry has responded to the COVID-19 situation since late December 2019, when details began to be revealed about the spread of the virus in China.
She says it caused the fear and horror she experienced during the 2004 SARS outbreak in Toronto.
“I think a lot of people probably thought I was overreacting early on, but that was part of my experience.”
Henry said he quickly resisted pressure from the media to present a model of the state’s potential mortality rate, believing that it would give the impression that any death was acceptable.
The pandemic reaction brought results
One of the earliest measures Henry and Dix took to prevent infection and death of vulnerable older people was to limit visits to long-term care facilities.
The minister says they were aware of the unintended consequences of the order in the lives of the elderly.
“In many cases, telling them that they can’t live long and can’t visit them has a big impact on their rest of their lives.”
Pandemic deaths exceed COVID-19-related deaths, Dix said. Health officials also foresaw the catastrophic impact of a pandemic on the state’s overdose crisis.
According to the BC Coroners Service, illegal drug use killed 1,716 people in 2020. This is the worst year of drug overdose recorded in British Columbia, with an average of nearly five deaths daily.
A year after Canada’s first COVID-19 died BC, health officials look back on pandemic deaths