News that churches in B.C. will be closed to public worship until Dec. 7 arrived like a thunderbolt Thursday, the surprise compounded by the disappointment that not all public gatherings are being treated the same.
But we’ve been here before and we’ll get through it again, and perhaps within a couple of weeks public worship can restart. Unfortunately it’s becoming clear the B.C. government is running out of ideas for dealing with COVID-19 other than lockdowns and facemasks.
Health Minister Dix said Thursday it’s still all about flattening the curve, but British Columbians have been through several rounds of flattening the curve since spring. We understandably wanted to avoid overloading the hospital system, but the large numbers of hospitalizations we feared might happen haven’t taken place.
Henry said Thursday there are 209 people in hospital as a result of COVID, and 58 in intensive care. It’s terrible to see that many people hospitalized, and they need all the care, compassion, and prayer we can provide. But with dozens of hospitals capable of handling patients and hundreds of ICU beds and ventilators, we can also address some of the lesser known victims of COVID.
The unintentional impact of restrictions has become sadly apparent, and while the province and the media focus on case numbers, other victims of COVID aren’t receiving the attention they deserve. The human tragedies occurring as the province focuses on case numbers were in the spotlight about two weeks ago when B.C. seniors advocate Isobel MacKenzie released her report on the elderly in long-term care. The devastating report received public attention for about a day, until the province’s focus returned to positive test numbers.
Seniors in elderly care are one of the overlooked dimensions of COVID restrictions, and one startling line from MacKenzie’s report encapsulates the grim situation: “Residents have told us that contracting COVID-19 is not their biggest fear,” said the report.
In its more than 30 pages of distressing accounts from the elderly, their loved ones, and staff, the unintended consequences on our social fabric from our focus on the COVID case count is driven home.
Mackenzie noted in her report, ironically titled Staying Apart to Stay Safe, that keeping the elderly apart from their loved ones is often to their detriment. Just a single one of the report’s heart-breaking stories makes that point: An elderly woman whose husband spent his 75th and final birthday separated from her. She could see him through a window. No cake, no balloons, no celebration.
When her 70th birthday came around, “we couldn’t even get together.”
“But the crowning touch was when we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary outside, six feet away, through a wire fence. NO TOUCHING! How could it get any more inhumane than that!”
Three milestone celebrations missed so they could be kept “safe,” said the woman. “Safe from what? What good does it do to keep them safe if, ultimately, they die of loneliness?”
There are too many accounts of British Columbians unable to hug, touch, or even see their loved ones in their final days because of restrictions. In many cases the residents can’t understand why they’re being abandoned.
The stories in the report graphically illustrate the danger of being preoccupied with one aspect of tackling COVID while ignoring others.
I had hoped that at Thursday’s press conference some attention could have been given to the lack of palliative care in B.C. Very few seniors have access to end-of-life care, and the MacKenzie report found two-thirds of those designated palliative died within a week.
Last year about 100 British Columbians a month were using assisted suicide to have themselves killed with legal injections. This year’s numbers will doubtless be worse. Witness the example of one B.C. woman who asked her family to arrange assisted suicide for her because she felt "locked into a long-term care prison" due to COVID-19.
There are other incongruities from our response to COVID, from abortion clinics continuing to operate while other medical services get cut. Thursday’s announcement that certain gatherings can take place, but not worship services, is another.
Schools, however, will remain open, which is encouraging because when schools are shut down, when businesses have to close, when seniors can’t see each other, and when churches are forced to shutter their doors, it has an impact on people. Our social fabric is being disrupted, and the social toll in mental illness, unemployment, drug overdoses, missed medical care, and domestic violence are just a few of the consequences that aren’t receiving a fraction of the attention that positive test results are getting.
British Columbians are suffering, and more restrictions don’t necessarily lead to less suffering. It would be refreshing to see more awareness from B.C. officials of the terrible effects that restrictions are having on British Columbians, especially the most vulnerable.