VANCOUVER—One day in 1955, after staring at a postcard of a Mountie dressed in his red uniform with snow-capped mountains in the background, Bill Hampson convinced his wife to pack up their young family to immigrate to Canada from South Africa.

But the adventures didn’t stop there, and the family moved around the country. Hampson worked as a miner and as a plane mechanic, with evenings spent in jazz clubs, before finally settling in Vancouver and opening up a locksmith shop on Main Street.

Hampson died this Sunday from complications due to coronavirus at the age of 93. He was the 11th confirmed fatality in British Columbia and the 21st death in Canada linked to the pandemic.

At his retirement home, Haro Park Centre in downtown Vancouver, there are now 10 other residents and 12 staff members infected with COVID-19, according to health officials.

His devoted son, Bruce, was not able to see his father before he died, because he and his wife are currently under quarantine at home.

“I knew he was scared and I wanted to comfort him … They were absolutely incredible at St. Paul’s Hospital. Doctors turned on their phones and I was able to talk to him (on video) for 10 to 15 minutes to hold his hands virtually and walk with him in his last steps on planet Earth before going to the next world.

“He didn’t speak, but he raised his head and smiled. I know he heard what I said.”

Now, as the family grieves, his son is also angry.

Angry at fellow Vancouverites for having parties and playing frisbee on the beach while his father was taking his last breaths.

“We’re letting people go out in parks. We just don’t get it,” says Bruce. “The city council is thinking of giving people fines.”

Fines, he says, are for parking or speeding.

“I would like to see the reserve out there with rifles.”

He urges people to think beyond just themselves and their families.

“You’re endangering society, my family.”

He’s also incredulous about the shortage in testing kits across the country that has left him and his wife in the dark as to whether they also have COVID-19.

Bruce last saw his dad in person two days before he developed a high fever and was rushed to the hospital on March 14, where doctors administered a test and confirmed his coronavirus diagnosis.

A doctor advised Bruce and his wife to stay home and wait for a call from Public Health within 24 hours. After waiting for the call to come for two days, the couple dialed the non-emergency 811 hotline, but couldn’t get through after many tries.

Since they both developed symptoms, and Bruce is 66 years old with a pre-existing lung disease, they fully expected to get tested.

But last week, B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix announced a shortage in swabs needed for COVID-19 testing, and said tests were only available to people sick enough to require hospitalization, those in long-term care homes, health-care workers and people living on a First Nation reserve.

Bruce said the testing limitations are unacceptable, and calls on the government to expand capacity in accordance with World Health Organization guidelines.

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The WHO recommends testing all contacts of confirmed cases if they show symptoms of COVID-19.

The volume and criteria for testing has been a matter of contention across the country since the beginning of the outbreak, with members of the public questioning why certain close contacts of positive COVID-19 patients, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose wife tested positive, weren’t undergoing tests of their own.

Experts agree about the importance of testing when it comes to the ability of public health officials to trace the spread of the disease, thereby containing it.

“The best case scenario for sure would be if we could test everybody who has symptoms. That would be ideal for information,” said Dr. Eleanor Fish, a Toronto immunology expert who researched SARS and Ebola.

But while B.C. was an early leader in Canada on testing, having tested 1,012 individuals by the end of February when Ontario had tested 629, the spread and concern over the virus in that province has made it hard for labs to keep up.

“We’ve done over 18,000 tests and the backlog of testing that had accumulated over the past week and a half has mostly resolved,” provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Monday. “We’ve also ramped up the capacity so that we’re able to test as widely as we need to.”

B.C. has also changed its testing criteria, so health-care workers, people associated with long-term care facilities, and community clusters of the virus unconnected to travel would be prioritized.

“For the majority of the people who have travelled back to Canada, self-isolation is what they need to do, even if they have mild symptoms, and they do not need to have a test in those cases,” Henry said.

Fish said that’s because a positive COVID-19 test doesn’t change a clinical response, except in severe cases.

“If you have mild symptoms then you’re not going to be treated in hospital. It’s prudent to stay at home and treat your aches and pains,” Fish said. “In terms of clinical management this is why we’re saying it makes no difference to have a test.”

“Why is the Prime Minister not being tested? He’s not showing symptoms,” Fish said. “The only advantage would be to get a negative.”

Meanwhile, Bruce and his wife continue to experience symptoms, including dry cough, sneezing, runny nose and chest tightness.

“The fear is the worst thing … Once I knew my dad had coronavirus, it’s terrible but you know and there’s peace in it. When you don’t know, that’s the horrible thing,” Bruce told the Star.

Since testing is limited, Bruce wants health officials to stop “misleading” the public with numbers of confirmed cases that don’t reflect presumptive COVID-19 cases.

“The numbers make it seem like the virus is under control … People don’t know the virus is a killer. They could have it, and could pass it on to their father or grandfather.”

Bruce knows his father was in his nineties and would’ve died sooner or later, but he wouldn’t want anyone to have to experience receiving a loved one’s coronavirus diagnosis.

“Your whole world stops.”

Joanna Chiu is a Vancouver-based reporter covering both Canada-China relations and current affairs on the West Coast for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @joannachiu

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