Editor’s Note: One year ago, our worlds changed. The first cases of COVID-19 struck in Atlantic Canada and the governments of P.E.I., Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador closed businesses and put safety measures in place to keep people safe, which had a ripple effect on our livelihood and economy. This week, we’ll take a look back at how we lived, loved, worked, played and changed over the past year, and what lessons we’ve learned as we move forward.
Day 8 -
HOW WE’VE CHANGED Get used to those masks: The lingering lessons COVID-19 has taught us will help in shaping our future
If you have a vision of the COVID-19 pandemic ending with everyone throwing their face masks in the air like mortarboards at graduation, you may be in for a rude awakening.
Even as vaccines roll out and cases start to fall, infectious disease experts don’t see face masks disappearing any time soon.
“One big change over the past year that I think is going to be around for a little while longer — or maybe for a long while longer — is the idea of face masking,” Dr. Natalie Bridger said in a recent interview.
'COVID will forever change us': Lessons learned as we look back at an unprecedented time in Atlantic Canada
Like many Atlantic Canadian business owners, Deborah Bourden had an extremely tough year.
The Twillingate woman is co-owner and operator of the Anchor Inn Hotel & Suites, as well as several other businesses in the town. She’s also secretary for the Twillingate Islands Tourism Association, giving her a good handle on the health of the industry.
“The damage to our industry is catastrophic,” she said, noting operations in 2020 were 50 to 70 per cent lower than 2019.
Day 7 - How it impacted our health
Contact-tracing puzzle: Nova Scotia nurse fights COVID-19 one phone call at a time
“We were building the car as we were driving it.”
That’s how Katherine Malec described the career shift she and other public health nurses made last March when the COVID-19 pandemic began to sweep the world.
On March 18, 2020, Nova Scotia had three confirmed and nine presumptive COVID-19 cases.
"We fully expected we would get positive cases, and we fully expect to get more positive cases as time goes on,” said Dr. Robert Strang, chief medical officer of health at a live briefing last year.
Halifax psychologist explains the scars we'll carry post-COVID-19
With the light of hope provided by COVID-19 vaccinations glimmering on the horizon, clinical psychologist Simon Sherry says the future may be a bit different post-pandemic.
We may be carrying some psychological baggage with us after a year of self-isolation and other coronavirus mitigation efforts, the Dalhousie University professor and director of clinical training said in an interview on Tuesday.
HOW IT IMPACTED OUR HEALTH: It’s not you, it’s COVID: Atlantic Canadians still navigating the physical, mental health impacts of the pandemic a year later
There was a time near the start of the pandemic when dumbbells became the new toilet paper.
The initial panic had somewhat died down, lockdowns had been implemented, and we were settling in as best we could for an indeterminate period at home. Fitness centres were closed - and some outdoor facilities were, too - and we were adjusting to what we were being told would be a "new normal." It quickly became clear we were going to have to find some way to incorporate exercise and other forms of self-care from inside our homes. Accessing fitness equipment became nearly impossible, and any items posted on online marketplaces were often overpriced, yet still snapped up quickly.
That was a year ago.
Day 6 - How we loved
HOW WE LOVED: 'Nobody to hold my hand': Normally joyous experiences lost for new Atlantic Canadian parents thanks to COVID
Having a baby is usually a cause for celebration. But for many new mothers and their families, COVID-19 has clouded an otherwise happy time with subsequent physical distancing and isolation measures.
Andrea Wheeler says her husband missed out on many key moments during her pregnancy. And when the once-in-a-lifetime experience came - one that is often shared between spouses, even grandparents and siblings - the unthinkable happened.
HOW WE LOVED: Did the free time during COVID have a positive or negative effect on your relationship?
This idea of whether COVID-19 has impacted romantic relationships became an area of research interest to Acadia University psychologists Dr. Diane Holmberg and Dr. Kathryn Bell.
The study piggybacked on a pre-pandemic study conducted by psychology student Erin Norris in December 2019. Norris was looking at risk factors for intimate partner aggression and associated well-being challenges.
Day 5- How we worked
HOW WE WORKED: No set menu for how restaurants survive pandemic
A year after feeling helpless while watching COVID news from China and dreading the shoe that seemed likely to drop, George Christakos thinks he was ahead of the curve of concern.
“I remember having meetings here with staff . . . when Costco was sold out of sanitizer and (to others) it was kind of laughable,” said the owner of two restaurants, Brooklyn Warehouse in Halifax and Battery Park in Dartmouth.
“But I thought it was a serious thing.”
For people in the hospitality industry, the pandemic was indeed serious, disrupting livelihoods and lives, shutting some businesses for good.
HOW WE WORKED: After a year of desperate measures to survive COVID-19, Atlantic Canada's tourism sector still faces uncertainty
A dollar.
That’s how much Richard Arnold’s Atlantic Tours & Travel made in 2020 for every hundred he made the year before.
"I don't know why I'm laughing," he said shortly after sharing that fact. "But when you put it in that perspective, it's unbelievable."
Last February, he got back from vacation just before the COVID-19 pandemic picked up steam.
HOW WE WORKED How Zoom calls, masks, and pandemic pivots had a hand in Atlantic Canadian seafood companies surviving COVID
If there’s one thing COVID has taught Atlantic Canada’s seafood processors, it's to be ready for anything.
That’s why Nova Scotia's Louisbourg Seafoods is installing new equipment at its plant in Canso to produce smaller packages of frozen shrimp for the supermarket aisle.
The change is a direct result of the pandemic, said company manager Allan MacLean.
HOW WE WORKED: ‘I have to do something’: When everyone else had to Stay the Blazes Home, Nova Scotia woman fed truckers
Crystal Blair, owner of the Glenholme Loop Petro Pass Restaurant, is standing behind a barrier of tables that are entirely covered with muffins and fresh fruit.
She looks up from a stack of letters and cards.
“It just goes to show you, kindness travels faster than COVID-19,” she says of the enormous outpouring of gratitude and support she’s received in the last several weeks from truckers and their families across Canada and the United States.
Day 4- How we lived and learned
HOW WE LIVED: 'Music has no boundaries': Nova Scotia Kitchen Party unites people around the world
Many a Nova Scotia kitchen party flows into the wee hours of morning, and the odd ceilidh lasts a full weekend. But only the Ultimate Online Nova Scotia Kitchen Party is still going a full year later.
Sitting in her kitchen in Rocklin, Pictou County, a year ago, Heather Cameron Thomson was feeling a bit oppressed by the looming threat of COVID and needed a song to brighten her day.
“I thought there might be a few others who felt the same way, so I started the party. I remember being thrilled when the numbers hit 200," she says.
"I was excited and a bit panicked as they climbed into the thousands. Our numbers today show the incredible power of music to unite us.”
HOW WE LEARNED: Switch to online learning during COVID highlighted digital divide among Nova Scotia students
“It certainly was a challenge when we found out that March 13 was the last day of school,” recounted Kevin Veinot, principal of Northeast Kings Education Centre in Canning, in a recent phone interview.
“We had a variety of skill levels in our teachers with regard to e-learning experiences for our students. We had the veterans, the pros who had been doing it already with our students, to the ones that were in their very beginning stages of trying to create Google classrooms and setting up Google meets and designing a synchronous class or an asynchronous class. So we covered the full gamut of ability levels.”
Day 3 - How we played
HOW WE PLAYED: Determined to compete again: Atlantic Canadian athletes deal with disappointments of COVID-cancelled seasons
Jack Cashen didn’t want to believe what he was hearing.
The Sydney Mitsubishi Rush goaltender had been looking forward to playing in the 2021 Telus Cup national under-18 championship this April in Membertou, N.S.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced Hockey Canada to change the team’s tournament hosting rights to 2022 - meaning Cashen and his fellow third-year players wouldn’t be able to participate in the event.
“It was definitely a challenge for us when we found out it wasn’t going to happen this year,” said the 17-year-old. “We all couldn’t wait for the tournament, and we all put in the hard work. To have it taken away from us like that was disappointing.”
Day 2 - How it was
How can you stop COVID-19 conspiracy theories? Nova Scotia professors explain why they exist and how to help
Most people know of someone who stubbornly clings to these conspiracy theories, and nothing can convince them otherwise. But where do they come from, and why do people so ardently believe them?
According to Kathryn Bell, a professor in the psychology department at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S., conspiracy theories have existed throughout history. The internet, she says, just helps to shine a light on them more readily.
Coping with COVID - stories from an unprecedented year
Throughout the past year SaltWire Network journalists have covered every corner of the box the coronavirus has placed us in. Understandably, readers across our network have been most interested in immediate information. How many cases, and where? Am I safe in the store? Can I visit my parents? Who has toilet paper!?!
Or how can I make a suddenly necessary mask. Tara Bradbury answered that question early. You can follow her tutorial above.
Among the struggles, however, have been stories of folks not just making do, but thriving. Our journalists covered that, too.
Looking back: If you could talk to yourself before COVID changed our lives, what message would you send?
"Don't let the fear of things you can't control drive you to despair. Step away from the computer and the news to look at the clouds and listen to the birds, to stretch and exercise and breathe, to count your blessings, to hug or call your loved ones."
If Mindy Vinqvist-Tymchuk could step back in time, that's the message she'd send to herself a year ago, as COVID began sweeping through Atlantic Canada.
Day 1 - March 13: How it started
PAM FRAMPTON: Dream terrors — all in a pandemic night’s sleep
Three weeks into COVID-19 Lockdown 2.0, I was tired of cocooning — thankful to be able to work from home, for sure, but feeling a bit hemmed in.
I looked out the back door before heading to bed, and there were huge snowflakes drifting silently to the ground in the pitch-black night. Snowflakes the size of white feathers, as if a giant had ripped open a pillow in a fit of pique and was shaking it out over our heads. Snow was piled on the deck like batts of cotton wool, shutting out sound.
I knew, somehow, the night did not bode well for sleeping.
And, oh, what dreams. They went on and on; pandemic pandemonium.
HOW IT STARTED: 'So much unknown': Looking back at the week COVID-19 changed Atlantic Canadian's lives
Adam Slamang was on the verge of opening a new business.
He had moved from British Columbia to Charlottetown, P.E.I. in January 2020, and was ready to open his acupuncture practice, Acuflow Wellness, in March. He also had big plans to spend time exploring his new home on the East Coast in the coming months.
Slamang had spent a lot of time preparing for the move, but he was also realistic. He didn't expect to make enough money from acupuncture alone, especially in the first year. So, he got a "day job," working as a lifeguard, while he grew his business. He expected to be financially stable as he made his dream come true.
Then, COVID-19 hit.