This probably is a misguided idea, but if people knew who was dying of COVID-19 and where they were dying, a lot less fear would be circulating in our community.
The gondola vaccine petition is driven by a lack of understanding of what the true risk of the virus is.
The situation is no longer emergent. It is chronic. This is our third winter dealing with the virus. We now know who dies and where they die. The average age of COVID-19 death in Canada is around 82 years old. Seventy-five per cent of those who die live in institutions such as care homes. These people are not catching COVID-19 in the community*.
Our efforts need to focus not on protecting people who have almost a zero-per-cent chance of dying of COVID-19 or becoming seriously ill (skiers). Rather, we need to focus on protecting those who are vulnerable, those in institutions. To date, zero school-aged children have died in B.C. and fewer than 60 people under the age of 50 have died in B.C. with COVID-19.
Stopping community spread by restricting access to Whistler Blackcomb or gyms or clubs, and so forth, with the hope that this will stop the transmission into care homes has little chance of succeeding. In fact, after almost two years we can see how ineffective our efforts have been. Currently there are 22 outbreaks in B.C. care homes [As of Oct. 26 there are now 28 outbreaks at care homes in B.C.].
Perhaps the Delta variant is responsible for our failure to control the virus.
We need to learn to live with the small threat of COVID-19 in our communities while focusing our efforts to reduce real risk to the vulnerable populations.
Martin Fichtl // Whistler
[*Editor’s note: According to Statistics Canada the average age of those who died of COVID- 19 was 83 years throughout 2020, but by the end of March 2021, the average age had fallen to roughly 76 years. During the first wave of the pandemic—March through August 2020— residents of nursing and seniors’ homes accounted for more than 80 per cent of all reported COVID-19 deaths (Canadian Institute for Health Information, 2020). As of early March 2021, reports indicated that nursing and seniors’ homes continued to account for the greatest proportion of outbreak-related cases and deaths, representing about seven per cent of all cases and more than 50 per cent of all deaths (Public Health Agency of Canada).]
