Five years after pandemic began, COVID-19 has left death, illness, isolation in its wake
CBC
June Muir had just returned from a trip to New York to help a friend move when the warnings started turning up in the media: If you've been out of the country, stay home.
It was early March, 2020, and COVID-19 was in the process of going from being a relatively unknown virus with little presence in Canada to a significant enough threat to shut down public gatherings for the better part of two years.
Muir, who runs the UHC-Hub of Opportunities, decided to stay home from work the next day just in case.
That decision may have saved lives.
Muir became one of the first people in the Windsor-Essex region to contract COVID-19.
"I was home for three months," she said.
"It was just a real nasty, nasty virus."
March 11 marks the fifth anniversary of the declaration by the World Health Organization that COVID-19 was a global pandemic.
By September of last year, the virus had killed more than 60,000 Canadians, and more than two million people were living with long-term effects of the disease as of June 2023.
Around 600,000 Canadian adults missed an average of 24 days of work because of what's often called long COVID. Around 100,000 had been unable to return to work because of their symptoms.
Muir initially experienced crushing fatigue that she chalked up to having over-exerted herself during her trip.
Then came the fever, the trouble breathing, the coughing, the lack of appetite, and ultimately, the positive COVID test.
"You're tired, you're weak, and you're scared because at that time, nobody knew anything," she said.
"You start to think, 'Am I going to die? Am I going to be OK?'"
Like much of Canada, the local news landscape in northern Ontario is undergoing significant change.
Amid the patriotic chest-thumping and sincere efforts of Canadians to do right by their country in the face of the on-again, off-again U.S. tariffs, the humble little Maple Leaf has been working overtime.
New Brunswick's most powerful lever in Canada's trade war with the United States is found mostly along the province's back roads, cutting through forests and across fields rarely seen by most residents.
Measles is making a comeback in Quebec. From December to March, at least 31 cases were reported and experts point to one cause — declining vaccination rates.
Manitoba's cancer authority has stopped using an infusion pump line — made by a company whose IV pumps have been the subject of recalls — over concerns about leakage and the increased risk of potentially hazardous chemotherapy drug spills, according to a memo obtained by CBC News.
Burnout is a very real concern these days at Fire Station #1 in downtown Saskatoon.
The man charged in a double homicide in Edmonton's Chinatown is in court this week, representing himself in a separate charge of breaking and entering.
With the 2025 wildfire season looming, Jamie Viera is fighting for any aid that will help communities in B.C.'s Interior build resiliency and volunteer strength on the fire line.
The provincial Crown has withdrawn all charges against Stelco, after two workers suffered severe burns they later died from.
June Muir had just returned from a trip to New York to help a friend move when the warnings started turning up in the media: If you've been out of the country, stay home.
Stunning views of the Rocky Mountains make it easy to miss the county line as you drive along Highway 22, northwest of Calgary.
People who are intoxicated by alcohol or drugs in Thunder Bay, Ont., now have access to a space where they can rest and recover without judgment.
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