To mark the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring a global pandemic, Mayor Al McDonald reflected on a year that’s had a little bit of everything.
“There’s no rule book. You’re trying to do everything you can to keep your citizens safe,” McDonald said.
While the pandemic was officially declared on March 11, the region did not record its first case of COVID-19 until two weeks later. After an initial first “wave” of cases, the summer saw just a handful over a two-month span.
That led to a second wave of the virus that increased case counts across the country. In that, an outbreak was declared at Nipissing University that infected 19 people. From there, local case counts continued to rise, with 32 infections reported in the first week of 2021.
That coincided with a provincial shutdown, which turned into a provincial lockdown. There were also variant strains of the virus, one of which caused a COVID-19 outbreak at Skyline – Lancelot Apartments in North Bay. To date, the outbreak has infected 45 people, 21 of which have confirmed to have a variant strain of the virus. Three people died in the outbreak.
“You’re looking around the province and a lot of cities were in trouble, but we were sort of the shining beacon until the [variants of concern] hit. Then it was like: ‘how did that happen?’,” McDonald recalled. “It was a rollercoaster, but at the end of the day, it really showed the resolve of our community.”
From the beginning of the pandemic, McDonald has been posting daily updates to his Facebook page with local COVID-19 information, along with provincial and national news regarding the virus.
“Trying to get a message out is always difficult. So I thought, I’m going to start a blog for every single day the pandemic is on just to keep our citizens informed and educated,” he explained. “I am very hopeful it was educational and informative to everyone who was following along.”
Heading into the Day of Observance to mark the one-year mark of the pandemic, the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit had recorded 269 total cases of the virus, with four deaths.
Canada now has numerous vaccines that are being rolled out around the country. The Health Unit has indicated that every adult in the region will be offered at least one dose of a vaccine by June 30.
“We can’t lose sight of the VOC that’s all around us in the neighbouring health units that border us. We are excited that everyone is going to get vaccinated but we can’t let our guard down because that VOC can turn us on our heads,” McDonald cautioned. “It’s not just a small light, we see a huge light and we’re walking towards it.”
Through the pandemic, however, there have been bright spots for the city of North Bay. The city has seen a rise in people moving to the area, with the real estate market showing recent success. McDonald partially attributes the growth to the pandemic.
“We were having good luck pre-pandemic. We were seeing growth. But there’s no question I think COVID really accelerated it,” he said.
Through the highs and lows of the pandemic, McDonald says he’s appreciative of the public’s understanding.
“Even though there were differing opinions and thoughts on what should be done and what shouldn’t be done. I think the vast majority understood that our whole goal was to keep everyone safe,” he said. “I’m proud we were able to keep our community safe even with the criticism that was there.”
