Opinion

Editor: We are family physicians on the frontlines in the battle against COVID-19. This crisis is unlike anything we have experienced in our lifetime. We are working flat out to be there for our patients and their families.

Editor: I went to Shoppers Drug Mart and was relieved to see a security guard and a line of people at the door, limiting the store to 50 persons.

Editor: For those of us who are not in essential jobs or services, I suggest that we only go out to get groceries or medications on days based on our addresses.

Face masks these days are about as elusive as common sense during the COVID-19 pandemic. The masks - along with hand sanitizer, toilet paper and disinfectant wipes - have become as precious as gold.

How long can this go on?

Editor: I write this letter as a question and as an alert to all of you about the health-care system’s complete overwhelming state where I live.

The NOW printed an excellent letter to the editor recently by Stephen Li, a Burnaby resident who experienced racism after moving to our city from Hong Kong as a child.

Editor: We now know COVID-19 will within weeks place an enormous and possibly impossible load on our health-care system.

It’s not just Burnaby malls that have become ghost towns due to COVID-19. Many of our roads are pretty close to seeing tumbleweeds roll through as people self-isolate and work from home. Traffic has dropped dramatically all across our cities.

I’ve been going to Costco for a long time. My ex-wife had a restaurant and used to buy a lot of stuff, and I’d tag along to do the heavy lifting. Costco is the place where everything is big and plentiful and occasionally outrageous.