Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Sheila Malcolmson said today the deaths were an “insidious impact of the pandemic,” wiping out progress made in 2019.
But advocates and experts say the province’s small, slow steps to address the crisis, even after the potential impacts of the pandemic on overdose deaths became clear, are a slap in the face to the families and friends of the 6,733 people who have died since 2016.
“We have had years to get ahead of this,” said peer advisor Guy Felicella of the BC Centre on Substance Use. “COVID showed how fragile what we had in place already really was.”
Eat This, Not That reports that many Americans are less fearful of COVID-19 as cases drop. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Stonington Parents pleaded with the school board Thursday night to allow students to return to full in-person classes instead of the hybrid mode that has been used since September.
They told the board the current instruction mode in which students go to school in person two days a week and learn remotely three days a week has led to students not being engaged in learning, being left behind academically and increased cases of anxiety, depression, eating disorders and other problems.
Others said data support the safety of full-time in-person learning. They challenged school officials and staff to creatively deal with issues such as staffing in order to get students back in class full time and asked why other school systems, such as East Lyme, are returning to in-person learning.