COVID-19 on Prince Edward Island, one year in
A close look at P.E.I.’s first week of COVID-19 way back in March 2020, and the year in numbers
On March 9, 2020, P.E.I. Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Heather Morrison stood on a podium and gave her first briefing on a new respiratory illness to a room full of reporters.
At the time no pandemic had been declared, and there had been no COVID-19 cases on P.E.I. Morrison advised Islanders to watch themselves closely for symptoms if they had been travelling internationally, but there was no talk of travel restrictions, nor any restrictions to activities on Prince Edward Island.
Events moved very quickly in the following week.
On the same day as that first briefing, a Monday, officials organizing conventions and festivals were taking an optimistic view of how the summer would go.
The next day, Premier Dennis King announced he had struck a committee to keep an eye on potential economic impacts should the situation deteriorate.
On Wednesday, P.E.I. opened its first testing clinic, though at the time samples had to be shipped out of the province for analysis. On the global stage, the World Health Organization declared there were grounds to start calling the international outbreaks a pandemic.
On Thursday, people were talking about taking extra precautions.
On Friday, Morrison advised self-isolation for 14 days for anyone returning from international travel, and recommended the cancellation of non-essential travel. The stock of cleaning supplies in stores began running low.
On Saturday, the first P.E.I. case of COVID-19 was announced.
On Sunday, the decision was made to close schools and daycares for a while.
And the rest? History — one really long year of it.
By the numbers
At her regular weekly briefing on March 9, 2021, Morrison outlined some of what has happened in the last year on Prince Edward Island, reeling off the following COVID-19-related numbers.
- Total number of cases: 143.
- Deaths: 0.
- Hospitalizations: 0.
- COVID-19 tests: 111,265
- Calls to 1-800 information line: 29,000
- Households that have completed 14 days of self-isolation: almost 20,000
- Registered truck drivers: 1,000
- Approved rotational workers: 940
- Students approved for travel to P.E.I.: 1,500
- Travel approvals through family connection program: 2,400
- Temporary foreign workers approved: 760
- Complaints of public health violations: 601
- Charges: 117, with 200 warnings and 4 charges pending