I remember exactly where I was when I realized the COVID-19 pandemic would become a major issue.
I heard an NBA player, Rudy Gobert, had tested positive after jokingly touching every microphone in a post-game press conference.
Cancellations of sports soon followed, all the way down to small-town Manitoba, where local curling bonspiels were cancelled the next week.
While Gobert’s actions may have seemed silly in the moment, and he probably was initially embaressed by his actions, in hindsight, his move may have been a tipping point.
There could be hundreds of thousands of people who didn’t catch COVID-19 because his actions, and subsequest cancellations sent the message to North America to take this virus seriously.
There’s a chance a lessening of COVID-19 numbers in B.C. could be linked to a similar moment.
With variants set to tear through the province, breaking daily case count records, all of a sudden this weekend, when we might still be seeing growth, they stalled and stopped.
There’s a chance the Vancouver Canucks outbreak, which put the team out of action for nearly a month, gave people the wake up call they needed to slow the spread.
The workplace is one of the most dangerous places to spread COVID-19, and with many people returning to their place of work for a few months already, I wonder if people became complacent.
‘Oh, it’s fine, I have my work bubble.’ All it takes is for that bubble to pop, and all of a sudden there’s an outbreak.
If it can happen in the NHL, with all of the testing and protocals, it can happen in your grocery store, your factory, or even your newspaper office.
High profile cases like the Canucks outbreak remind us to stay vigilant and safe, even when we feel comfortable.
Cassidy Dankochik is the editor of the Quesnel Cariboo Observer
READ MORE: Vancouver Canucks’ COVID-19 outbreak a ‘cautionary tale’: Dr. Bonnie Henry
Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email: cassidy.dankochik@quesnelobserver.com
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