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LETTER: B.C. has done better than most with COVID

Our province has fared better than many jurisdictions by following public health advice
28638505_web1_Coronavirus_3D_illustration_ProperSize
COVID-19 virus (file photo).

Did B.C. do well or what?

Here are some COVID statistics from March 15, 2022:

COVID-19 deaths over the last two years per 100,000:

United States: 298

United Kingdom: 230

Germany: 150

Canada: 97

British Columbia: 56

Just imagine that the U.S., with all their money and brains, has had more than five times the number of COVID deaths per 100,000 as B.C. So if B.C. were like the U.S., instead of 2,946 covid deaths, we would have had over 15,000 deaths and our hospitals could not have kept up in any way. This could have also led to collateral damage of thousands more preventable deaths from cancer, accidents, strokes and heart attacks.

Not only have B.C. policies prevented many people from getting COVID and dying an ugly, expensive death, there are also untold numbers of people who have been saved from that dreadful long-term COVID, all because of lower infection rates and the power of the vaccines. In a long journey through unfamiliar territory, Dr. Bonnie Henry and her crew have saved so many many lives by encouraging B.C. citizens in vaccinating, masking, distancing, and other mandates.

Almost all of us can be very proud of our personal efforts to comply, but must still be on alert because this pandemic may not yet be over. So, people of B.C., be patient and co-operative. If we continue to follow the government’s directives, chances are good that most of us will emerge from the pandemic alive and healthy, and ready to re-engage fully in the lifestyles we love.

Pauline Harms

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