(Image credit: CFJC Today/File photo).

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Three years later, the refuseniks can thank the science on COVID

Jan 30, 2023 | 5:06 AM

IT’S BEEN A YEAR since the Ottawa convoy. Three years ago, we were just beginning our experience with COVID-19. We didn’t even know what to call it yet.

Saturday was the anniversary of B.C.’s first confirmed case of 2019-nCOV, in a man returning from Wuhan city in China.

Health officials told us not to bother with any special precautions beyond what we usually did with respiratory viruses in winter.

Masks? Of no particular value, they said.

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But as the new virus spread like wildfire, masks became not only recommended but mandatory in some situations.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s daily updates became a regular part of our TV watching. Dr. Bonnie Henry became famous, revered even, as she and Health Minister Adrian Dix kept us up to speed on the battle against this frightening new enemy.

Bars and restaurants were shut down. Working from home was suddenly normal. We hoarded toilet paper. Hand sanitizers were in short supply, too.

We went through massive travel restrictions, vaccine cards and a host of other measures in an attempt to slow the pandemic and, yet, our hospitals were clogged with patients, many of them dying. Nurses and doctors faced burnout from impossibly heavy workloads.

At first, pretty much everyone was united in the fight. Until, of course, people began to tire of it. Even after vaccines were developed at lightning speed, the numbers of refuseniks grew.

While it’s rare to see anyone wearing a mask these days, COVID-19 is still very much with us. Thousands are still dying from it every day.

The cry-Freedom crowd shouts “I told you so,” but many more would have died, and would be dying, without all those drastic measures and the vaccines that have given us at least a measure of immunity.

No matter what the skeptics say, we can be thankful for the science that has allowed most of us — including them — to survive and continue the fight.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops, former TNRD director and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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