Asked to name only three reasons that explained P.E.I.’s success in containing the COVID-19 virus in 2020, Premier Dennis King had ready answers.
There was the trusted leadership of Heather Morrison and staff of the Chief Public Health Office. There was the maintenance of border controls, aided in no small part by limited points of entry to the Island.
But in a year-end interview, King said it was the actions of thousands of ordinary Islanders, who simply followed the public health guidelines and stayed home, that made the difference in containing COVID-19.
“Everybody took this very, very seriously,” King told The Guardian on Tuesday.
“They took ownership of it from an individual and a household perspective and from a community perspective. And they haven't really let go of that.”
As of Wednesday, a total of 91 P.E.I. residents have tested positive for COVID-19 since March. Unlike any other jurisdiction in Canada, with the exception of the Northwest Territories, no one has died as a result of the virus in P.E.I. None of the 91 positive cases in P.E.I. have required hospitalizations.
An outbreak of cases in December, linked to several retail and restaurant locations, appeared to be linked to the first instance of community spread of the virus. But after a rush of testing of residents of Charlottetown in the 20-29 age group, the outbreak appears to have been contained. As of December 22, P.E.I.’s rate of testing per 1 million people was second only to Quebec.
But in the early days of the pandemic in March appeared far less clear. King described a flurry of activity, often focused simply on getting from one day to the next.
“Quite honestly, if I look back to March, I couldn't even see April,” King said.
“It was really the unknown of this. I think I was just able to put it aside like everybody else and say ‘let's just focus on what we need to do today. Let's plan for tomorrow.’”
King added that P.E.I. benefitted from “some good fortune, for sure.”
As of this month, King’s approach appears to have garnered public support. Opinion polling from Narrative Research, released earlier this month, shows 91 per cent of the population expressing satisfaction with the performance of his government.
But not all decisions have been popular.
A decision in May to allow an easing of travel restrictions for cottagers and seasonal residents inspired significant backlash. Many Islanders feared cottagers from off-Island would not respect self-isolation requirements. Others believed the move was unfair, allowing special privileges for off-Island property owners at a time when schools remained closed and visits to long-term care homes were still banned.
But King maintained allowing entry of seasonal residents “ended up being a good decision.”
“We made it for the right reasons using the best information from a health perspective,” King said.
“There was fear and I understood all that. And I just thought the way we went about it gave us confidence. We were isolating, we were requiring them to have a plan, we staggered their entry into the Province.”
The video of the year-end interview with Premier Dennis King will be published online at theguardian.pe.ca on December 28. A full transcript of the interview will be published in the December 29th and December 30th print edition of The Guardian.