North Vancouver man issues warning after birthday dinner spreads COVID-19 to family members

NORTH VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — A North Vancouver man is warning others not to make the same mistake he and his family made – after a family birthday dinner became a superspreader event for COVID-19.

In November, Shaun Hanson and six other family members gathered for his father’s 66th birthday. And not long after, Hanson, his wife, mother, father, cousin, and his cousin’s daughter started experiencing symptoms and eventually tested positive for the coronavirus.

“I’ve been called stupid for catching this. But people have got to understand, we’re in our bubble and it is so easy to catch. All you have to do is pick up a bag of chips and you can be sick,” he says.

Despite the recent order against social gatherings, Hanson said they believed they would be okay since they regularly saw each other.

Hanson explains he believes his cousin’s wife — who could not make it to the dinner and stayed home because she was not feeling well — may have been the initial case.

She later tested positive.

“I tell you when this hits, it hits hard. It hit us luckily very minor, but unfortunately for somebody like my dad, it didn’t hit very minor.”

Before testing positive, Hanson says his family has worked hard to prevent contracting the virus since many of his family members have prior health problems.

His father suffers from COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and his wife has dystonia.

And while Hanson and his wife have recovered, his father remains in critical condition.

Now, Hanson is warning other British Columbians, “Don’t make the same mistakes we made.”

“It’s a scary world right now and we all got to stick together,” he says.

He adds he hopes people understand the severity of the virus by hearing his story and are able to see the impacts of the virus from his eyes.

“Stay safe. Wear your masks. Be careful what you touch.”

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