The former chief executive officer of Windsor Regional Hospital says there are some positives that came out of the COVID-19 global pandemic as the world mark the fifth anniversary of the event.
David Musyj told AM800's Mornings with Mike and Meg that one of the positive things that came out of the pandemic is third and fourth-year nursing students now working in hospitals, an idea that started in Windsor.
"The theory is that a good percentage of your own staff are going to be impacted by whatever pandemic happens, so you have to be ready," he says. "So the way to do that is to bolster the staff by bringing in third and fourth-year nursing students. The province picked it up about six months later; now it's a provincial program that has sustained itself to today."
In late 2019 into early 2020, there were reports of dangerous flu-like symptoms in Asia and news of lockdowns that kept tens of millions of people inside their homes in China.
The World Health Organization's declaration of a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, set into motion policies that would impact the lives of Canadians for years to come-including the closing of the Canada-U.S. border, the shutting down of schools and businesses, work-from-home requirements, and restrictions on social gatherings.
Musyj says that infection control practices are better than they were five years ago.
"I don't know about you, but I even see it in the community, where there seems to be far more attention to cleanliness in various areas. I see that at a restaurant or otherwise, not to say that they were bad before, but I can notice it far more now," he says.
Musyj says that the province also invested in a substantial number of hospital beds.
"That still are in the system that we still need because of the respiratory season. COVIS is still prevalent and still here with us along with the other respiratory issues and now, unfortunately, measles," he says.
Globally, more than 7 million people have died due to COVID-19, according to World Health Organization data.
For the period of March 11, 2020 to December 31, 2024, there were 846 deaths related to COVID-19 in the Windsor-Essex County region, according to the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.