Moving forward: Edmonton doctor recalls highs and lows of working during COVID-19
CTV
A local doctor who worked in a COVID-19 ICU unit says she and her colleagues are just starting to process how Saturday marks three years since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic.
A local doctor who worked in a COVID-19 ICU unit says she and her colleagues are just starting to process how Saturday marks three years since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic.
On March 11, 2020, after more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries, the World Health Organization characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic.
"It feels like a very long time, but it also feels like yesterday," said Dr. Neeja Bakshi, an internal medicine physician.
The last three years have challenged all medical professionals, Bakshi added, with many just starting to take stock of the pandemic experience.
"It's hard and I think any health-care worker that's gone through the trauma of COVID, I think it's really hard to let it go as well," she said. "I think we're all in that state of mind of is it okay to breathe now?"
Edmonton hospitals no longer have dedicated units for patients with coronavirus. Canada's top doctor Theresa Tam says the virus has reached a relatively stable state, with no new variant-driven waves expected.
"It does feel, I think, for the first time in three years, it really actually feels like something is shifting," Bakshi said. "We still have lots of COVID patients, and I don't think that will ever change, but there is a different feel."
