Q&A: Health Minister Adrian Dix on successes, regrets, and tough decisions during COVID – Vancouver Sun

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A: One of the things I’m most proud of is what we’ve done (catching up) on surgeries … and we gave a lot of attention to (improvements) in long term care …

Of course, there’s a whole set of issues around the direct consequences of the pandemic, not on medical health, but on mental health. I usually exercise five times a week … probably in an average year I exercise 300 times a year, and during COVID I’ve exercised five times.

Q: How many days off have you had in 2020?

A: A day with no work? Certainly no more than seven, I’d say. There were a few days in August.

Q: Did you know Dr. Bonnie Henry, who has also worked nearly every day this year on the pandemic, just finished writing a book with her sister, Lynn Henry, publishing director at Knopf Canada, called Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe?

A: Yes, I do. I think in the very brief moments, and there hasn’t been many when she hasn’t been working on the pandemic, she’s been working on a book about the pandemic. I think she actually probably had fewer days off than myself.

Q: Have you read any part of the book?

A: No. The book comes out in March. I’m going to buy it like everybody else.

Q: Are you going to write a book?

A: Maybe. I wouldn’t rule it out

Q: When will you get the vaccine?

A: We’re going to go by age in the general population, and we’re doing specific populations, long term care workers, and so on. … I think it’s important that we (leaders) show confidence. In my case, I should get it when my time in the lineup comes up. That won’t be before March or April, I suspect, because, I hesitate to say this, but I’m 56.

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