A year later, COVID changed everything.

It’s an anniversary that marks the beginning and end of what seemed to be the long-standing certainty of life.

March 11, 2020 represents Hamilton’s Ground Zero in a pandemic. COVID-19 (new coronavirus infection) (# If there is no character limit, add parentheses when it first appears It was revealed.

The storm that gathered was mild and then sudden. That same day, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic.

That’s when everything has changed, and a year later the question is whether the change will be eternal.

And if you face a lot of losses, you’ve found something of value.

On New Year’s Eve 2019, the infectious disease doctor’s inbox at St. Joseph Healthcare posted the latest overseas information on a cluster of pneumonia cases in central China.

Zain Chagla Had a deadly chase Ebola Central African virus.But the new coronavirus respiratory illness in China is probably SARS outbreak Did 44 Canadians die in 2003?

He thought it was something to keep an eye on.

on January 25In 2020, Canada recorded the first known case of COVID-19.

On January 30, Hamilton’s Public Board of Education announced that students and staff would be banned from wearing masks because they could “increase the risk of infection and increase anxiety.”

Four weeks later, on the last Saturday of February, people sat side by side at Hamilton Place to watch a blue rodeo concert. The next day I watched a music program for children. Fans cheered together at the bulldog game and gathered at a home show in Ancaster.

On Sunday morning, March 1, McMaster University posted on its website that students with flu symptoms have been quarantined and tested for coronavirus. The result returned to negative.

Ten days later, a 32-year-old radiation oncologist at the Durabinsky Cancer Center, who returned from his vacation in Hawaii, felt symptoms of the flu and asked for COVID-19. The result returned to positive.

Public health announced the incident on March 11th the next morning. At 12:30 pm, WHO declared a pandemic that afternoon, with nearly 100 known incidents in Ontario, and Prime Minister Doug Ford announcing that all public schools would be closed for two weeks starting in March. did. break.

Large rallies have been “postponed” and companies have begun instructing employees to work from home. Pearl Jam has “postponed” the March show at Hamilton.

But for many, it was the school announcement that warned that something historic, inspirational, and painful had begun.

Aside from snowy days and strikes, Ontario schools do not close in the middle of the year.

“When we hear the news that day care and other facilities are closed, we think about the social infrastructure and these physical locations that shape our interactions. In my opinion, it’s like this apocalyptic state. It was as if I had fallen into it. ” Marisa Young, A sociologist at McMaster University.

A year later, she says, a “secondary pandemic” of the virus is affecting mental health.

She says the COVID has been enhanced.Allostatic load“To the individual” — the psychological stress we carry during normal periods — seemed endless and contributed to the sharp increase in diagnosed depression, anxiety, stressed diet and alcohol consumption.

Illness and death are the most tragic effects. As of March 9, 22,304 Canadians with COVID-19 had died, of which 289 died in Hamilton. During the first wave of the pandemic, 80 percent of the dead In Canada, there was a patient in a long-term care facility. The facilities are set up to keep your loved ones safe.

Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger has announced that he will lower the city hall flag for a week starting Thursday to honor “people who lost their lives or were seriously affected by the virus.”

Local health agencies are asking people Go out on the balcony, deck, or driveway at 7 pm on March 11 to commemorate the lost life and light a candle in honor of the pandemic efforts of frontline healthcare professionals. Share the social compliments of the day. Media that uses the hashtags # Candle4COVID and #TogetherWeCanDoIt.

In addition to mental health, pandemic damage includes unemployment in industries that are not suitable for working from home, such as restaurants and small businesses.Unstable employment women and young people Especially vulnerable For economic downturn.

McMaster Economist Bradley Raffle We believe that the transition to online commerce, which was already underway before the pandemic and is now significantly accelerated, will continue.

And while the shift to telecommuting continues, most companies will adopt flexible scheduling to combine telecommuting and office work to enable face-to-face interactions that most people value. I’m adding.

At the same time, research shows that pandemics have a positive impact on the environment, including reduced air and water pollution. In some developing countries, untreated waste is dumped into rivers daily during the blockade. “Major sources of industrial pollution have shrunk or shut down altogether.”

However, the spillover effect is also complicated. Report Not only are fewer tourists injected into the ecosystem, such as goats wandering the streets of British towns and sea turtles nesting on beaches crowded with typical Thai tourists, as well as increasing animal sightings around the world. There is also evidence of increasing poaching and animal poaching in Africa. For example, these crimes were partially thwarted by the presence of tourists and protection authorities.

As for Homo sapiens, one early theory of the pandemic was that if a couple were trapped in a house, they could cause a baby boom, but studies show thatBaby bust, “Couple who postponed having children due to stress or tense relationships and most social and dating paused.

1 Report The United States said it may see 300,000 fewer births in 2020 than otherwise expected.

Other obvious implications in Canada include Reduction of crimes reported by police In some categories during the pandemic, but increased domestic violence Call.

in the meantime, House price In Hamilton, influenced by the tendency to work from home, it has soared to historic levels, driving more people out of the already overheated market.

United Nations report The pandemic is summarized as “human, economic, social crisis … attacking society at its core.”

At the most basic level, distance has fundamentally accelerated the trend towards digital interactions, delayed the norms of human contact, and accelerated our hard-wired instinct for proximity and contact. ..U.S. psychiatrists say this is “Touch deprivation, ”This is difficult, especially for the elderly, Those who place the highest priority on physical contact..

For example, the physical gap imposed between people is one difference between the stress of the blockade community and wartime anxiety.

Alan McPhersonWas a former Presbyterian Minister, a member of Hamilton’s prominent gallery, and a Scottish toddler during the war. The British faced collective unrest during the German bombing operation, but said they were able to share their experience of evacuating to a subway tunnel.

“You were surrounded by people who understood, and their very existence strengthened their determination, but there was no 6-foot (social distance) separation.”

The personal suffering caused by life-changing events such as illness, death, abuse and unemployment occurs every day.

On the same day that the first case of Hamilton’s COVID-19 was announced, families in the city mourned the loss of their loved ones. Those who died of various causes that day died Donafleming, James Moore, James Upson, Wasfische Wayhat, Mary Smond, and Robert Hislop, 51, two days after his wife died in a car accident. I did. “A broken heart,” read his obituary.

In contrast, a pandemic is a rare example of long-term public distress that has pierced the notion of expectation and normality. A long-standing belief that no matter what happens, you can always find an emotional haven for your family, travel, sports and entertainment.

Randy McCave, director of St. Joseph Healthcare’s Anxiety Treatment and Research Clinic, says suffering is shared but has different implications for everyone.

“You talk to 20 people and hear 20 different stories. For the economically wealthy, the biggest thing may be boring or trapped in a house that leads to cohabitation problems. “

“I have a lot of hope”

While the cycle of decreasing and increasing COVID cases continues and epidemiologists warn about viral variants and the third wave, the future remains an open issue, with warm climates and accelerated vaccination rates. , To travelersImmunity passport.. ”

McCabe, whose mother survived a COVID-19 infection in a long-term care facility, wept last week when she saw a file of an elderly person vaccinated by St. Joe. This is a medical miracle, less than a year later. First case.

“It was a historic moment. I saw staff from all over the world come to help and be very happy as my seniors won the lottery. It was a great day … there is a lot of hope. But I still feel like we’re still in the middle of it. “

There are slices of normal life there, but some are in remote worlds. Over 20,000 people participated concert Nowadays in New Zealand, outdoors, there are no masks or distances. In a country of 4.9 million people, as of March 10, there were only 80 cases of the virus.

On the positive side of the ledger, McCabe suggests that the long-term recovery of the pandemic has instilled a greater sense of resilience and flexibility in confronting difficult situations.

She mentions Viktor FranklAfter spending three years in a Nazi concentration camp and writing “Night and Fog,” he wrote: Of life, even as fate and death. “

“I certainly don’t compare what we are experiencing with what Frankl is experiencing, but people have their own journeys that they may have suffered, and they live their lives. It makes sense to get from those experiences that affect how you see, “she says.

“So we will be transformed by this … it doesn’t mean anything when it’s over and we experience a little difficulty. What’s important and where to focus our mental energy It’s clear what you want. “

In other words, if the pandemic teaches an elemental lesson, it is Illusion Believing that we are in control of our lives, and that it can all change in a blink of an eye, and paying attention to the little blessings that are here now, and that has brought us a perspective.

And then you may never come back.