How 5 years of COVID-19 has prepared Toronto to face potential crises in the future

Tyler Cheese · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 14, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 21 minutes ago

Five years on, Toronto-area doctors and nationalist wellness officials are looking backmost astatine what they've learned since the commencement of the COVID-19 pandemic — and astir hold the aboriginal acquisition volition beryllium utile if the metropolis faces different infectious illness crisis. 

"The biggest happening was fearfulness and uncertainty," Dr. Justin Hall told CBC Toronto. Hall is main of exigency medicine astatine Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, wherever Canada's archetypal lawsuit of COVID-19 was identified connected Jan. 25, 2020.

"Our unit responded highly good to not knowing what was going to hap and each time looked a small spot different," helium said.

March 11 marked the 5th day of the World Health Organization's declaration of COVID-19 arsenic a pandemic. In the days that followed that announcement, the provincial authorities declared a authorities of emergency, with the City of Toronto pursuing suit soon after. 

While astir volition retrieve those unprecedented times for lockdowns, disguise mandates and vaccine rollouts, Hall said determination were galore different utile lessons learned astir minimizing the dispersed of disease. 

"We were capable to person a batch of innovation during this time," helium said. "That's 1 happening that I anticipation volition proceed to past and that we won't hide due to the fact that of the pandemic." 

One illustration of that innovation is the virtual exigency department, which Hall says is inactive operating and was created done a concern betwixt Sunnybrook, University Hospital Network and Toronto Unity Health.

According to Sunnybrook's website, the virtual exigency section offers same-day online appointments with exigency section physicians, minimizing the request for radical to travel to the infirmary successful person. While its initial intent was to assistance code the pandemic, the work besides aims to help under-served populations and reduce exigency country hold times.

Communication key, wellness experts say

Dr. Na-Koshie Lamptey, Toronto's acting aesculapian serviceman of health, told CBC Toronto the metropolis is much prepared to grip an infectious illness situation present than it was earlier COVID-19. 

"Communication was truthful cardinal to an effectual response," she said. "The coordination and networks that were built up … the mode the hospitals, nationalist health, superior attraction and societal services settings truly were each sharing accusation successful caller ways. I deliberation that is going to assistance america coordinate amended if determination should beryllium different challenge." 

That "Team Toronto" coordination has already proven utile to assistance tackle issues of income, nutrient information and transportation, Lamptey said. 

She says she's hopeful that those networks are maintained to assistance amended presumption the metropolis and Toronto Public Health successful the lawsuit of a imaginable caller pandemic.  

"We truly felt astatine the clip that we were gathering the vessel arsenic we sailed it," Dr. Samira Mubareka told CBC Toronto of the aboriginal days of the pandemic.

Mubareka, an infectious illness specializer and aesculapian microbiologist astatine Sunnybrook, says present determination are "fortunately" little restrictions connected those who tin survey and enactment with "high effect coronaviruses."

"When SARS-coronavirus-2 landed present successful Canada, you could number connected 1 manus the fig of individuals who were acquainted with coronaviruses," she said. 

This level of preparedness needs to beryllium maintained, particularly with respect to vaccine distribution, she said 

"Understanding the biology is cardinal for vaccine development," Mubareka said. "But unless you person the close pieces for coordinating and implementing and rolling retired vaccines, which includes everything from logistics to communication, societal sciences, nationalist health, each of those things, they each person to enactment unneurotic successful a coordinated fashion."

Any reflections connected the archetypal 5 years of the pandemic request to see looking astatine the wide-ranging impacts of COVID-19, Lamptey said. 

WATCH: Toronto's erstwhile aesculapian serviceman of wellness reflects connected 5 years since COVID: 

"It truly is simply a accidental to bespeak connected the lives that were lost, to honour the workers who contributed to the response, to support the public," she said.

"Remember that determination are inactive radical who are having effects from COVID," she said, including those who are inactive astatine hazard of terrible outcomes from being infected and those experiencing the effects of agelong COVID.