MUN medical resident training in Halifax sees the strain of COVID-19's 3rd wave

While Newfoundland and Labrador seems to be keeping COVID-19 under control, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald has warned the risk of anotheroutbreak is high,mainly due to travellers from harder-hit areas of the country coming into the province.

In Nova Scotia, for example, there are more than 1, 621 active cases of COVID-19. As of Wednesday, there were75 hospitalizations, 15 of them in the ICU.

Neurology resident John Jeddoreof St. John's,working toward a fellowship in epilepsy training, arrived in Halifax a few weeks back, just as a third wave of infections was hitting Nova Scotia. That means he has now had the rare experience of working within the health-care system during the pandemic in two provinces.

Jeddore said public health authorities in both provinces seem to have a similar approach in attacking the virus, even though Nova Scotia hasn't reboundedas quickly as Newfoundland and Labrador did following an outbreak earlier this year.

"That could be for a multitude of reasons," he said. "Everything is reduced capacity. The essential things are open and then, of course, some restaurants with takeaway and delivery. But the streets are fairly bare and there's not a lot happening here."

For the most part, Jeddore said, his training is moving along as planned.

Working in a COVID-19 hot zone

3 years ago

Duration 4:21

Dr. John Jeddore describes how training work in Halifax has changed amid a serious outbreak

"Halifax is known as being a really great epilepsy centre in Atlantic Canada," Jeddore said. "The plan was to do a year of training so I can come back to [Newfoundland and Labrador] and assist with the management of epilepsy patients in the province."

But the situation is fluid, he noted, and the plan could be derailed at any moment.

"There's always a chance, especially with the numbers the way they are and the way the infrastructure in this centre, that resources can get thin fairly quickly," he said."Some of the residents that I work with are, of course, worried about redeployment, given the ICU and hospitalization numbers."

When he landed in Halifax, there was an anti-mask rally happening on Citadel Hill.

Jeddore called the demonstration "garbage" butsaid since then, people seem to be taking things more seriously.

"Those haven't occurred since the seriousness of the situation evolved and the numbers really picked up," he said."It seems as though everyone is taking it more serious, and I feel like that's a common theme in Atlantic Canada in general. Not that we appeal to authority, but that we listen to the experts and take their warnings seriously."

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