This week marks one year since COVID-19 turned everyone's life upside down.
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic. Since then, the virus has infected more than 118-million people worldwide, and 2.5-million have died, including over 22,000 Canadians.
Whether you lost your job, started working from home, cancelled travel plans, or adjusted to the kids working from home, you felt the impact. Once an unusual sight in public, wearing a face mask in public became the norm.
Erie Shores Healthcare CEO Kristin Kennedy. (Photo courtesy of Erie Shores Healthcare)
Kristin Kennedy, the CEO at Erie Shores Healthcare can still remember where she was and what she was doing when everything changed.
"Today is the one-year anniversary of being at the [International Women's Day] gala," Kennedy said Monday morning. "My phone going off feverishly, and we knew the next morning things were likely going to change in the province."
And change it did. The economy shut down as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford urged everyone to work from home. Thousands of people were laid off in the weeks that followed, and the daily case counts began to climb. Government offices closed, and services were quickly posted online. For the first time since September 11, 2001, the border shut down. An appointment with a doctor became an over-the-phone affair, and we all learned how to Zoom.
"It's been an incredible journey. When you think about where we were this time last year, and the fear of the unknown, and looking back to see how we have moved along to where we are now," commented Leamington Mayor Hilda MacDonald. "Never thought we'd be through that range of emotion and range of experiences -- but, I feel there's hope, and there's light."
A photo of Leamington Mayor Hilda MacDonald. (Courtesy of Hilda MacDonald on Facebook.)
Like many, MacDonald has vivid memories of that mid-March day.
"It felt so surreal," she said. "I remember driving up to the County of Essex to sign the declaration of emergency, and I felt like I was removed from my body. This could not possibly be happening."
Soon after, provinces and municipalities across the country declared states of emergency.
As of December, the federal government had spent more than $240-billion on various funding projects and supports for Canadians including the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit and the Canadian Emergency Worker Benefit.
Almost immediately, scientists got to work to find a vaccine, and as of this month, Health Canada has approved four different doses from Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna, Oxford-AstraZeneca, and Johnson and Johnson.
So far, 2.6-million doses have been administered, and 583,483 Canadians have been fully vaccinated.
While anxiety set in for many as the months dragged on, there was also light in the darkness.
Groups of ordinary citizens banded together to encourage frontline healthcare workers. Long lines of decorated cars drove past hospitals and restaurants donated meals. Windsor, known for its murals, added another nearby the Windsor Regional Hospital.
"Our frontine health care workers have stepped up in our hospitals, long-term care homes, and congregate settings to care for our sick and most vulnerable citizens, and our public health units have led local response efforts," read a statement from Premier Doug Ford on Thursday. "An army of volunteers came forward to help others through incredible acts of kindness."
(Photo by Darrin Drouillard)
On June 27, thousands of Windsor-Essex residents donated food for those who had lost work because of the pandemic and broke a record for the most donations given in a single day.
The federal government has declared Thursday "The National Day of Observance for COVID-19."
"As we look back on the challenges of this past year and reflect on how far we have come, we must also keep one eye on the road ahead," said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marking the anniversary. "The largest immunization campaign in our country's history is well underway -- But, the pandemic isn't over, and until all Canadians have access to a safe and effective vaccine, we all need to continue to follow public health advice.
"The past year has been difficult, but better days are ahead," he added.