Lonely, muzzled and trapped: Nursing home residents describe lockdown measures

A resident in her room at On Lok Senior Health Services in San Francisco. (Photo by Nancy Wong.)

“Lonely, depressed, muzzled and trapped.” According to a CBC article, this is how residents of Canadian nursing homes describe the lockdown measures that were imposed upon them earlier this year.

The article is quoting a video conference by Ontario’s Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission — yet they do not provide a link to the source material. I attempted to find this video on the government website, but got lost in transcripts of doctors debating how to get residents with dementia to social distance.

The CBC article, however, quotes shocking testimonials: “Now when I see these dog cages on TV for stray animals, I see myself as one of these neglected, filthy and starving-for-love-and-affection little critters,” said Virginia Parraga, who lives in a long-term care home in Toronto. “I now weep for our human race and mankind.”

Sadly, the CBC is peddling the story that turning nursing homes into Gulags was an unavoidable evil in response to COVID-19: “The novel coronavirus ripped through the province’s long-term care homes, overwhelming the system and killing more than 1,900 residents, as of Thursday.”

Yet, the Canadian Armed Forces, back in May, pointed to more obvious reasons for the high death count: “Significant gross fecal contamination was noted in numerous patient rooms,” was one of many observations made in their report into the state of five Ontario long-term care homes. “Nearly a dozen incidents of bleeding fungal infections… [Feeding tubes] not being changed in so long the contents had become foul.”

Barry Hickling, one of the residents who testified, said that: “We are isolated, alone, without family or friends to visit with us. I don’t want to go through this ever in my life again. “

Yet, that’s what the government has planned with the coming of the supposed “second wave.” Except, this time, the lockdown is starting earlier, and, one would assume, will last longer.

Sharron Cooke, president of the Ontario Association of Residents’ Councils, told the CBC: “Residents could not socialize with their friends, ate soggy meals alone in their rooms and watched endless television… [Most ended up] dormant and sleeping all the time. The residents didn’t know what day it was, what time it was.”

A woman living in a long-term care facility in Keswick, Ontario said the isolation felt like living behind bars. “Except that prisoners are treated better.”

Even if the virus was as life-threatening to seniors as the mainstream narrative claims, it should seem clear that months and months of lockdowns are not the solution. What is the purpose of extending someone’s life by a few years in such an intolerable way? And, how could such inhumane conditions not be even more life-threatening than the virus they are trying to avoid?

But what if, as the data suggests, COVID-19 is on par with the regular flu season? Then such treatment of seniors suggests we have devolved into the Brave New World depicted in Aldous Huxley’s novel — where old people are considered useless eaters that need to be euthanized.

If this is happening in your region, please write your politicians. Feel free to plagiarize anything from this article in such a letter. As Plato said: “Your silence gives consent.” Do not be silent. Speak up. There’s still time.

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John C. A. Manley About the Author: John C. A. Manley is the author of the full-length novel, Much Ado About Corona: Dystopian Love Story. He is currently working on the sequel, Brave New Normal, while living in Stratford Ontario, with his wife Nicole and son Jonah. You can subscribe to his email newsletter, read his amusing bio or check out his novel.


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