Long Covid Timeline Summary - All that was known and not shared in B.C.
“The government and the office of Public Health claim legitimacy and authority through propagating the idea that they protect people from illness and death, that they improve and prolong life.”
In the past, if you have felt that our government and public health officials have acted in your best interest, you are not alone. But to understand what is really happening behind the curtain, especially now, please read on from the above quoted statement in Protect Our Province New Brunswick's latest revelatory piece called “Manufacturing Apathy.” Then continue reading the timeline summary below and share widely all that has been known and not disclosed by B.C’s health officials about post COVID-19 multi-system damage and long COVID.
The paper trail begins with this declaration from a legislative session fact sheet uncovered in this B.C freedom-of-information response (pgs.6-7): “In April 2020, the [Post Covid Interdisciplinary Clinical Care Network] was conceived”. As explained in this B.C. journal article, the network was established through collaboration with “over 60 clinical specialists, researchers, patients, and health administrators” in response to an “emerging need for specialized coordinated care for a subset of post COVID-19 patients.” The estimated long-term impacts recognized back then “were likely to be significant” due to the wide range of organ systems affected.
Since the *PC-ICCN was the only Canadian post COVID-19 program actively learning from long COVID evidence in real time, B.C.’s regional health authorities, the Provincial Health Services Authority, and researchers were uniquely positioned to know all there was to know. Yet, they did not share this information with you. In other words, B.C.’s health leaders recognized that post-COVID-19 complications were serious enough to warrant the need for a multi-faceted clinical care program - back in early Spring 2020 - but they did not inform or educate you about all they knew and were continuing to learn about the long-term risks.
Around this same time, in the midst of all this long Covid secrecy, 52 people, across Canada, experiencing long term disabling symptoms, joined together. These long Covid sufferers connected to press Chief Public Health Officer, Theresa Tam, and all provincial medical officers of health for increased public awareness, updated public guidelines and necessary medical support. Revealed by PoP NB’s comprehensive Right to Information response and posted by Long Covid Resources Canada, their June 30, 2020 letter detailed a whole host of debilitating symptoms including serious and persistent respiratory, cardiac and neurological issues. They also expressed a lack of care in the medical community and explained that many of them were “being dismissed as having anxiety”.
Two months later, a response came from Dr. Henry, replying as the Chair of Chief Medical Officers of Health on behalf of the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Special Advisory Committee on Covid-19. Her August 20, 2020 letter, carbon copied to Chief Public Health Officer, Theresa Tam, touted the federal government’s investments in ambitious research initiatives but offered no real acknowledgement or help, save for a tone-deaf recommendation for those with “severe or prolonged illness” to seek care from their health-care providers. But in contrast to her seemingly dismissive comments, sidestepping the letter writers’ ongoing, debilitating long Covid symptoms, Dr. Henry did not hold back about Canada’s multi-pronged research role. Apparently, we were “home to some of the most skilled and recognized researchers in the world,” whose efforts “will help to slow and eventually stop the spread of Covid-19,” and the “data and research from various sources” were being reviewed daily “to support planning and the public health response.”
And in her eagerness to explain just how much we were leading the charge, Dr. Henry cited the launch of a Canadian initiated global study about long-term effects on the brain. Proving that even back in 2020, post-Covid-19 cognitive impairment was on the radar of all federal, provincial and territorial SAC on Covd-19 members. A study that two years later revealed “significant impairments were seen in those with mild infection” and “the degree of cognitive impairment was not related to the amount of time that had elapsed between the Covid-19 infection and the assessment, suggesting that they might be long-lasting.” Yet, not once, did Dr. Henry warn anyone about these conclusions in her public health briefings.
Revealed also through PoPNB’s R.T.I is this July 30, 2020 Public Health Agency of Canada’s Special Advisory Committee on Covid-19 presentation. Outlining persistent post infection COVID-19 symptomatology, these slides detailed evidence of cardiovascular and chronic disease implications as well as the long-term respiratory health issues revealed in 2003 SARS research findings. The exhaustive list of recipients consisted of federal and provincial decision-makers, including Dr. Bonnie Henry, as well as, B.C’s Assistant Deputy Minister of Health Ian Rongve, and Deputy P.H.Os’ Dr. Reka Gustafson and Dr. Brian Emerson.
Then there’s the indisputable evidence that back in the summer of 2020, our B.C. government health ministry officials were privy to the prevalence and seriousness of post Covid conditions. Revealed through B.C. F.O.I documents, this August 12, 2020 Provincial Health Services Authority "Ministry of Health decision briefing note (pgs.3-4), leaves no stone unturned while making its case for a Post COVID-19 Clinical Care Program. Specifically, it lays bare that “increasing evidence shows that people are suffering from lingering symptoms after the acute phase and that “ongoing problems include fatigue, a racing heartbeat, shortness of breath, achy joints, foggy thinking, a persistent loss of sense of smell, and damage to the heart, lungs, kidneys, and brain.” This confirms that officials understood, back then, the multitude of long-term risks including major organ damage.
As mentioned earlier, from this same F.O.I came the "legislative session fact sheet" (pgs.6-7) approved on May 29, 2021 by B.C. Ministry of Health ADM Ian Rongve. It emphasized that the PC-ICCN was the first of its kind in Canada “to standardize post COVID-19 care across health authorities and integrate real-time research into clinical care”. But it’s this statement from the document that is most alarming: “COVID-19 survivors with complex presentations who do not receive adequate and evidence-based recovery care are at risk of lifetime disability and chronic diseases”. And like the PHSA’s post-COVID business case, it also specified the known multi-system damage: “such as cardiovascular, respiratory, kidney disease and the known burden of depression and psychological impacts of chronic disease”. This confirms all that was known by government representatives in the B.C Legislature.
Now, let’s circle back to our friends from New Brunswick and their monumental Right to Information response. As it turns out, also in May 2021, the PHAC began sharing evolving scientific evidence with provincial governments and public health officials. In fact, one of their reports confirmed that long COVID was affecting “both adults and children,” the non-hospitalized and “young working aged adults.” Also, that women especially were being disproportionately impacted. So, B.C.’s decision makers knew that essentially no one in our population was without risk and still these facts were not being disclosed to the public.
On top of that, another PoP NB disclosure confirmed that the Federal Office of the Chief Science Officer began sending monthly communications to provincial health officials detailing the evidence of long COVID, as early as July, 2021. As of that date, these decision makers were provided with evidence such as the estimation that “there will be approximately 39,000 cases of disabling long COVID in those aged under 35 seeded by Covid-19 infections.” And that as of July 31st, 2021, based on research conducted and reviewed by the PHAC, “approximately 56% of individuals who have had COVID-19 reported the presence of one or more symptoms 12 weeks after diagnosis.”
The OCSO also included these cautionary statements for health officials: “Policy responses need to take into account the complexity of long COVID.” “Public health response to COVID-19 needs to adequately address long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection.” And yet in B.C. our pro-infection policies persisted, and Dr. Henry continued to tout the benefits of “hybrid immunity.”
The OCSO continued to send health officials these detailed reports inclusive of 340 long COVID studies plus other fact summaries and articles throughout the remainder of 2021 and through 2022. The recipient list included B.C Centre for Disease Control’s Epidemiology Lead Danuta Skowronski, Medical Director Monika Naus, and PH and Preventive Medicine Specialist Dr. Mayank Singal.
Please note that this multitude of long covid information via the OCSO was being received by Skowronski while she and her co-authors, including Dr. Henry, were conducting their cross-sectional SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence study. Their study’s sero-surveys began in March 2020 and ended in August 2022, at which time their research concluded that estimated infection-induced cases in B.C’s children and youth had culminated to reach ~80%. Yet, between July 2021 and July 2022, Skowronski specifically, had been receiving reports that included evidence of long term symptoms in children and youth. These pediatric fact summaries and studies revealed a whole host of harms in this population group, including heart, lung and liver implications, cognitive impairment and fatigue.
All these cited documents highlight the accumulation of evidence about the lasting impact of SARS-CoV-2 on multiple organ systems well after the acute infection has resolved. That it can affect otherwise “healthy people.” That it can debilitate those who only had a mild or asymptomatic acute infection. That it can profoundly compromise young working aged people and that it’s predominantly affecting women. That it’s also disabling children.
That it can happen to you.
B.C.’s government and public health officials, including our P.H.O, have known all about long COVID and post COVID multi-system health risks since early 2020. Yet, Dr. Henry, especially, has never told you that the best way to prevent these outcomes is to avoid COVID-19 infections nor has she told you that repeat infections increase your risk.
On March 9 2023, Dr. Mona Nemer, Canada’s chief science adviser and chair of the post COVID-19 task force, publicly released a comprehensive report inclusive of all that was known and shared with provincial leaders since 2020. On this same day, signaling that it was an ongoing serious concern, the federal government also announced its $29 million investment in a national network to support and conduct research into the Post-COVID Condition.
**And yet in B.C, on April 1, 2023, the Ministry of Health closed its four in-person Post Covid Recovery Clinics. Understandably, B.C.’s post COVID sufferers feel abandoned.
The truth is that we’ve all been abandoned all along.
*More about what was known by B.C. PHSA and all that was being communicated behind the scenes through B.C’s Post Covid-19 Interdisciplinary Clinical Care Network. My first piece: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HX0vxzOh5HOnaDAr8wa8oFTrMi5ODgHItGLqnb9yEZA/edit?usp=sharing
** And this piece takes a deeper dive into perhaps why B.C’s Ministry of Health decided to close its in-person PCRCs and turn around and make a permanent investment in virtual care and continued research through the PC-ICCN. As well as the main focus which includes a more in-depth exploration into a B.C. F.O.I. revealing all that was known and all that was being discussed in the B.C. Legislature. My second piece: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19nHNA1m9hFHtkJdMTncNU4vuRwMWAD6YgWAyxpRDAXI/edit?usp=sharing