Taking a look back at April 2020
April 1— COVID-19 now dominates every news story: Niagara reports two more deaths, bringing its total to four. Measures are introduced to keep workplaces safe.
Meanwhile, officials warn that seniors, health-care workers and Indigenous communities are at greatest risk of infection.
April 2 — Outbreaks are declared at four Niagara nursing homes. At this point, that still shocks us.
April 4 — Sirens, blaring horns, flashing lights — it is a parade for Niagara’s front-line health-care workers, thrown by police, paramedics and firefighters. A joyous scene amid growing dread, it starts at St. Catharines hospital and is repeated at hospitals across the region.
April 6 — Headline: “Schools prepare students to continue learning from home.”
April 7 — And this: “Ontario has enough protective gear for one more week, premier warns.”
April 11 — A report sums up the force of COVID-19’S punch, showing 11,000 people in Niagara lost their employment between mid-february and mid-March. In one month, the region’s unemployment rate went from 5.9 per cent to 8.6. Next month’s will be worse.
April 16 — A Niagara Region survey shows that, since the pandemic began just more than a month ago, two-thirds of all responding Niagara businesses have laid off between 76 and100 per cent of their staff. Close to 1,100 businesses are temporarily closed.
April 20 — “I haven’t been able to hug my family since this started,” says a Niagara registered practical nurse, adding he worked 74 hours during the first week of April.
April 23— There are plenty of acts of kindness amid the sadness and anxiety: At Lundy Manor in Niagara Falls, where 15 seniors recently died from COVID-19, Canada Post letter carriers deliver free coffee and doughnuts to the residents.
April 25— Niagara is mourning the loss of Wilma Morrison, a beloved worker in the Niagara Falls community and tireless advocate for Black history. She died April 23. From COVID-19.
April 30— Niagara records its 478th case of COVID-19. Fortyfour people have died.