The world has moved on. But those who lost loved ones to COVID-19 feel stuck in time – CBC

More than 60,000 people have died of COVID-19 in Canada. Here are 5 stories

Mar 05, 2025

It’s been almost five years, but family members of Canadians who died of COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic often feel as if they are frozen in 2020.

It pains them that they couldn’t hold the hands of their parents, siblings, spouses and friends in the final moments of their lives. Instead, they said goodbye over speaker phone, or through a glass window. They watched as body bags were wheeled out of long-term care homes, and some held modest funerals outside as it snowed.

Ahead of the five-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring a global pandemic on March 11, The Canadian Press spoke to five people who lost someone they loved as the virus started circulating in those frightening early days.

Since then, more than 60,000 people have died of COVID-19 in Canada based on public health data.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/covid-19-deaths-five-years-later-1.7474989