Five years after the World Health Organization declared a COVID-19 pandemic, opinions are mixed about whether Prince Edward Island would be ready if another deadly contagion came along. CBC’s Sheehan Desjardins talks to the people who designed the measures we took to stave off the virus.
When Dr. Heather Morrison first met with fellow chief public health officers across Canada about a novel respiratory virus early in 2020, she didn’t know just how wide-ranging the ramifications of what would become the COVID-19 pandemic would be for Prince Edward Island.
“I don’t think when we started meeting we ever anticipated the extent and length of time it would be with us,” Morrison said in an interview with CBC News this month.
The first case on P.E.I. was confirmedin March 2020. Within days, schools and workplaces, churches and concert halls all closed. Virtual activities took their place. Anyone wanting to come to P.E.I. had to be pre-approved, and …