8.5 Healing from COVID-19
COVID-19 Related Loss
Much of the media coverage on the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) (March 11, 2020-May 5, 2023) (WHO, n.d.) focused on the number of people who were gravely ill and who had died from the virus. Although we saw and heard the daily hospitalization and death statistics, we rarely heard about all of those people, families and communities experiencing mourning and grief. According to Cadell (2021, para. 11), however, “it is estimated that for every one person who… [died from COVID-19], there… [were] five left grieving those loses.”
As noted in the previous sections of this chapter, grief is not just a reaction to losses tied to death, it can be associated with other forms of loss. During the PHEIC tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people experienced loss on multiple levels. There were the losses tied to physical, economic, and housing security. There was the psychological toll tied to a lack of emotional and physical connection, relationships, and mental health support that help us through difficult times (Cadell, 2021; CMHA, 2014). We also lost a sense of predictability in or control over our lives, including our ability to protect our loved ones, especially the most vulnerable (children, elderly) (Weir, 2020). And there were the losses associated with the pandemic’s impact on healthcare, education, and world economic stability and peace (Weir, 2020). Not only did postponing, curtailing, or eliminating end-of-life rituals impact both how we mourned the dead and grieved (see Chapter on Cultural & Religious Beliefs & Death-Related Practices), it impacted how we grieved all of these other types of losses (Cadell, 2021; Phillips, 2021).
The Need for a National Grief Strategy
Every November since 2017, the CHPCA has sponsored a National Grief and Bereavement Day to encourage “Canadians to engage government and all sectors of Canadian society in a national dialogue to identify and support access to necessary resources for those living with grief and bereavement” (CHPCA, n.d.-b, para. 1) (See Grief and Bereavement Day Poster in Chapter Section on Understanding Grief). Since the Canadian Grief Alliance (CGA) was formed by the Canadian Virtual Hospice in 2020, it has called for government funding of a national grief strategy (Cadell, 2021). The importance of this initiative has grown exponentially due to COVID-19, shedding light on the importance and necessity of a government implemented strategy (Cadell, 2021). This strategy could include public awareness campaigns, educational initiatives, and increased funding for grief-related research. Such a strategy would help us to better understand and deal with grief, recognize grief in ourselves, and better support one another through grief (Cadell, 2021, p.). In November 2023, the Canadian Government announced one million dollars in funding to the CGA, marking the first step towards providing support for grieving Canadians (CGA, November 16, 2023).
Click the links below to learn more about grief in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic: