What a difference a year (and real-life data) can make
One year ago Canada had its first two positive COVID-19 cases, in Ontario, and the top public health official considered the risk of contracting the virus nationwide to be low.
“Canadians should not be concerned that they can pick up the virus from an infected individual by any casual contact, such as walking through the airport or another public place,” said Dr. Theresa Tam at the time.
It was a married couple in Toronto who had COVID after returning from China on Jan. 22, 2020. Tam said the man had a slight cough on the flight but they had both been wearing masks.
Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, held the province’s first press conference regarding the virus on Jan. 27, 2020. There were no cases in Alberta at the time. Some testing had taken place but Hinshaw didn’t reveal how many had been administered.
“The important number to know is zero probable, zero confirmed cases,” said Hinshaw, noting that test results had indicated influenza rather than COVID. “The number of cases being tested is not an indication of risk to the public.”
In a statement provided by Hinshaw’s office this week, she said that in the last year hard work has gone into expanding the online reporting system to be as timely and informative as possible.
“This required building the first comprehensive online dashboard in Canada, as well as working to connect a wide range of internal reporting systems.”
Officials in China had by Jan 27, 2020 reported the illness had killed at least 81 people and infected more than 2,750 others.
In one year, Canada went from those two positive cases to more than 726,000 cases and 18,478 deaths.
In Alberta, there have been more than 119,000 positive tests for COVID and more than 1,500 deaths.
On Jan. 27 last year Hinshaw explained the nasal swab lab test and said the national lab in Winnipeg was being used to confirm results.
“Albertans are still more likely to experience respiratory infection caused by a common virus such as influenza, which is in itself a serious infection however if anyone has specific concerns about being exposed, ... I encourage them to call HealthLink at 811,” said Hinshaw a year ago.
Alberta had a pandemic plan should the coronavirus reach that point but the spread of the virus outside of China had been limited, she explained.
“We still believe the risk to Albertans is very low,” said Hinshaw last January.
So much has happened since then.
“We know this has been an incredibly challenging year for residents of Medicine Hat and all of Alberta,” reads a statement form Hinshaw’s office. “This pandemic has once again shown the strength, kindness and community spirit of Albertans. We have continually worked together to reduce transmission and protect each other.”