Credit: Govt. of Canada

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Maybe we’ve finally gotten the COVID message with RIH outbreak

Jan 27, 2021 | 4:40 AM

KAMLOOPS — THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK at Royal Inland Hospital is being described by some as “a reality check” or “wake-up call.”

In other words, we should all wake up to the fact that COVID-19 is active in Kamloops and renew our vigilance against it. Of course, we would have realized it sooner if provincial health authorities had been more transparent about where the virus is spreading.

From the beginning we’ve been told we should simply assume the virus is among us here in River City.

The reasoning goes that if we believed Kamloops was managing to avoid COVID we’d slack off on personal protective measures. Well, now there’s no doubt it’s with us, big time.

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Maybe the fact several dozen patients and staff at the hospital are sick with it will convince the many remaining skeptics that COVID-19 is real, and it’s not something that only happens far away.

Or maybe not.

Then there’s the information gap that occurred after the discovery of COVID at Royal Inland. The outbreak was identified last week and Interior Health confirmed it in a news release on Friday.

After that, communications went dark on the matter until Monday, leaving residents to fret over what was going on. As we now know, the number of cases there multiplied several times in those couple of days.

Excuses for the lapse include Interior Health and RIH staff being too busy to issue updates, communications staff having the weekend off, and the public being at the bottom of the list of who needed to know.

Local health authorities have a poor record of communications but it’s hard to fathom they don’t understand that a key component of crisis management is communicating with the public.

Any good crisis management plan includes clearly identifying spokespersons and communications protocols. Apparently, Interior

Health’s plan doesn’t include weekends but at least we’ve gotten the message: COVID-19 is with us 24-7.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.