Front Line View of COVID-19: Six month update

Here is an update to a post I published six months ago. Views are reflections on my own experience.

Travelling by ferry this summer

As the COVID pandemic drags on, the hospital continues to extend my employment contract three months at a time. Our community has been a hotspot for the delta variant and the boil has recently reduced to a simmer. The census in our hospital two days ago showed 7 COVID positive patients, and 20 “resolved”, but still very ill patients. We had one more death from the virus on my unit this week. 

There are still Canadians who resist vaccinations, even though they are readily available for all people over the age of 12. Some of our recent patients have been young, unvaccinated adults who developed COVID pneumonia as well as blood clotting complications. Many of the hospitalized patients have presented with deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary emboli, sometimes weeks after their initial infections.

Our province is gradually re-opening and as more people are vaccinated, the hope is that we will not experience another wave of illness. As of yesterday, 80.59% of eligible people in Ontario had received their first vaccination and 66.23% had received two doses. 

That is commendable! 

I am concerned that the remaining 20% are resistant to being vaccinated due to fear, political influences, and inaccurate information on social media. I cannot understand why a few of my coworkers have declined vaccinations, especially as we are exposed to the virus inadvertently at times. There is pressure from some doctors in the province to mandate vaccinations for all health care workers. I could not start working in a hospital until I submitted proof of immunity from hepatitis B, tetanus, rubella, and a number of other communicable illnesses. Serious illnesses like polio and smallpox have been virtually eradicated due to effective vaccines and there are places you cannot travel to without proof of vaccination from yellow fever and other diseases.

I am in this picture with some coworkers

The majority of people infected with COVID-19 will recover without medical intervention. But they can transmit the virus to someone who will develop severe symptoms, as was the case with the patient who died this week. Younger, unvaccinated members of the family spread the infection to a more vulnerable parent.

As Canadians, we are very fortunate to have an abundant supply of vaccine doses. Other countries in the world do not have enough for even a fraction of their population. And so the pandemic continues on like a world war with political, economic, social and religious lines drawn.

I have been fully vaccinated since January 2021, but realize I can still contract COVID. I know of a couple of fully vaccinated hospital employees who became infected in a recent outbreak on a medical unit. They have mild symptoms. So we still wear masks and face shields as we cannot socially distance when caring for patients or interacting with staff.

If you don’t want to be vaccinated, it is your choice and I accept that. But for the foreseeable future, unvaccinated friends and family will not make it further than our outdoor deck if they visit. And I am looking forward to visiting some dear friends in person this summer who are now fully vaccinated.

[This article, Canada could avoid the worst of a 4th wave, was published on CBC today. I will look at the link again in another six months to see how accurate the predictions were.]