Cases: 1,330,931 worldwide
Deaths – 73,930 people
Canada – 16,498 cases
Ontario – 4,038 cases
(WorldoMeter, 2020)
Here is a brief timeline of Covid-19 in Ontario (Government of Ontario, 2020)
Jan 27, 2020 –1st two positive cases, couple arrived in Toronto after travelling to Wuhan, China
Jan 31, 2020 –3rd case in Ontario, 20 year old student, tested positive, travelled to China
Feb 21, 2020 – Last known case of Coronavirus in Ontario is resolved
Feb 23, 2020 – 4th Ontario positive case, women arrived from China several days earlier
Feb 26, 2020 – 5th diagnosis in Ontario, women travelled to Iran
Feb 28 – March 9th – 34 total cases in Ontario
March 11th, 2020 – The World Health Organization declared the global outbreak of Covid-19 a Pandemic
March 12, 2020 – 1st child in Canada tested positive
March 13, 2020 – 79 confirmed cases in Ontario
April 5, 2020 – 4,347 positive cases – 132 deaths
Covid-19 has affected every Canadian in one form or another. You might be directly affected by the virus causing you to be ill, or you may be caring for an ill person. You might have vulnerable family members that you are protecting. You might be a front-line worker, working as an essential employee in grocery stores, hospitals, nursing homes or emergency services. You might be a student, having to complete your schooling online. You might have lost your job due to the virus and now you are trying to manage life on unemployment, or you might’ve just got back from travelling so now you are self-isolating for 14 days. You are only to go out in public to get essentials (groceries, prescriptions and gas) and when you do go out in public you have to social distance and ensure you are 2 meters apart from others. Concerts, special events, trips and social gatherings were all cancelled. You aren’t able to spend time with family or friends; you are limited to spending time with the people in your household and that is it. Thankfully technology allows you to connect with friends and family over facetime and zoom calls.
Every individual is affected in some way. Individual behavioral changes, such as fear-induced aversion to workplaces and other public gathering places, are a primary cause of negative shocks to economic growth during pandemics. (Madhav et al., 2017).
We are all living in fear. Our lives have been affected in every way possible by the COVID-19, the economy has crashed, people are isolated at home, thousands are dying and becoming seriously ill.
The questions that have ponder my mind EVERYDAY are… Will I have a job after this? I work for a small non-for profit day care, will they be able to make it through this? Will I be able to afford paying for my house during this pandemic? Will my partner lose his job? Will my family stay healthy? Several of my friends and my mother work as front line essential employees…. How are they feeling? Will they stay healthy during this time? My brother is self-employed, will he be able to continue working after this? Will I be able to attend school again in the fall? Will this affect my relationship? My Mental health?
“Even if health care workers do not die, their ability to provide care may be reduced. At the peak of a severe influenza pandemic, up to 40 percent of health care workers might be unable to report for duty because they are ill themselves, need to care for ill family members, need to care for children because of school closures, or are afraid” (Falcone and Detty 2015; U.S. Homeland Security Council 2006 as cited in Madhav et al., 2017).
I’ve asked a few of my friends how COVID-19 has affected their lives:
“COVID-19 has affected my work life greatly, I am doing jobs I wouldn’t normally do. For example, I am a recreation therapist, and now I am assisting the PSW’s on the floor with whatever they need. I am comforting not only the residents but also their family members because their loved ones are no longer able to visit. The virus is in the home, I’m not only protecting myself from the virus, but all the residents in the home. It has also affected my personal life as the virus was been physically and mentally draining and my patience with my own loved ones has become short.” – Ashley – Recreation Therapist in a Nursing Home
“Initially, there was confusion as to which infection control precautions we would need to take when in contact with these patients, bounced between a couple with changes each day until it was finally decided to have it as a contact/airborne and only requiring N95 masks for certain patients on machines. Now, we were limited to 4 masks per shift, requiring to wear these masks as long as possible before changing into a new one. This soon moved down to 2 masks per shift, having to be worn for the full 12 hours. This means sore ears for nurses, sore faces. This also means wearing the same mask between patient environments which kind of goes against the whole infection control thing since you are supposed to wear new PPE between each patient environment. We have gotten creative and made masks, headbands with buttons to help save our ears, scrub caps. Units have been cleared out and because of that there are extra nurses from these departments who are getting deployed to other units. Speaking as someone who is part time, hours are limited since there are extra staff everywhere from these unit closures, awaiting COVID patients. But I feel like we are being super supportive of each other” – Christine – Nurse
“I go to school at Fanshawe so all of my classes have been moved to online which has been very difficult for me because I'm not a very good online learner so I'm really worried about my marks and being able to keep them up. Just like all schools my child care centre was shut down so I do not have care for my son during the day anymore. My husband got laid off from his job 3 weeks ago and we still haven't heard anything from PEI to be able to sign up for him so we can pay our bills. I am still on extended maternity leave but that runs out this upcoming weekend so I will no longer have a paycheque coming in to my account. And I doubt anyone is hiring right now. My parents would take care of our son two times a week so I was able to go and see them and spend time with them on a weekly basis and now I'm no longer able to do that. And they are going through 100% baby withdrawal. But since my dad works on construction sites he is constantly having to start his quarantine over so we can't even come visit and stay 8 feet apart from each other. My best friend's mom also looked after our son one day a week and she relies heavily on that time with our son each week. She calls him her antidepressant. So it's been very difficult for her. We actually surprised her yesterday with a visit. Her husband spray painted an 8' square in their driveway so we could still social distance but have a visit. We all needed it so badly! These times are crazy but i know together we can do it!- Hannah – Mother and Student
“Supporting the vulnerable population is a critical task in common times - supporting those same individuals during COVID19 is a relentless, front line duty that is both demanding and traumatic. Lack of PPE disables us from providing necessary care (or in turn, forces us to provide necessary care in an unsafe manner), staffing shortages, federal/provincial/municipal state of emergencies - a few of the reason’s health care providers & mental health workers are in crisis. We are expected to preform our duties as if there’s no cause for concern - yet, we are the ones directly facing the risk of the pandemic. It is a turbulent time for the health and safety of our patients, our families, and ourselves.” – Inez - Mental Health Supporter
“Since the start of this pandemic due to being an essential worker within the hospital I see to spend more of my days at work then home with family. I haven’t been able to hug or have lunch with my grandparents which is something I did weekly. It has caused myself to go weeks without the essentials in my house as when I am done work stores are closed due to reduced hours or no stock on the shelves. It’s prevented my son from Playing any sports or feeling included with friends as it’s like friends don’t exist anymore. This virus I feel will either make us or break us.”– Jamie – Essential Worker & Single Mother
All Image: (Johnson, A. 2020)