This week marks the five year anniversary since the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Ontario with full effect. Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a State of Emergency on March 17, 2020 as restrictions on travel, shopping, school attendance, and nearly every aspect of life were put in place. “Stay home, stay safe” was the mantra of the day.
The first wave of the pandemic targeted long-term care and medical facilities with horrific stories of those who were infected early on. Programs were cancelled, Zoom meetings became the new normal, and society had to adapt to a virus we couldn’t see, or feel, but that had deadly consequences.
The socioeconomic ramifications of the pandemic in the near term were catastrophic for most. Social isolation, remote learning, remote work, economic shutdowns, curbside pick-up, and social distancing were all part of life for various times in the two years after the pandemic began. The loss of life, of work, and of social interaction, are still felt now that we have reached the five year mark since the pandemic officially arrived here in Ontario.
A generation of students in school have the impact of two years of on-again, off-again remote learning to carry with them throughout their education careers and beyond. Overstressed health care workers carry the scars of being even more essential than everyone knew them to be. For most, science became the hero – especially once the initial vaccines were discovered, and refined. Mass vaccination clinics not seen since wide-spread Polio and Tuberculosis vaccinations in the 1950s and 60s were completed. Life eventually returned to normal, but different – changed.
Looking back, this pandemic feels like it just happened yesterday, and also that it was so long ago. There are many lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic – some of which are being forgotten already.
Despite the protests of the fringe minority, pandemic restrictions largely worked. Visitor restrictions in Ontario kept infection and death rates lower than our neighbours to the south, and across the globe. Science did its part, and then some.
A Herculean-effort in the scientific community saw the first vaccines being tested less than a year after the virus was identified. This, combined with drug therapies, lessened the effects of this virus, treating it more like a cold or the flu. The medical advancements from the pandemic, including RNA-based vaccination development, accelerated research and development in the medical establishment. This has generational implications for future medical improvements.
Out of the pandemic, some governments have improved monitoring and detection of viruses and other biological threats. There is better planning on how to deal with the next pandemic. It is only a matter of when, not if, than another pandemic will happen.
There is a real worry that in the political climate we are in now, with certain countries and governments cutting funding to research and surveillance, that we will again be unprepared for another COVID-like global event. It is our hope, looking back five years on what happened, that calmer voices of reason prevail, and a better effort on prevention and monitoring can be made.