5 years on from COVID-19, what has P.E.I. learned when it comes to public health?

When Dr. Heather Morrison first met with fellow chief public health officers across Canada about a novel respiratory virus early in 2020, she didn't know just how wide-ranging the ramifications of what would become the COVID-19 pandemic would be for Prince Edward Island. 

"I don't think when we started meeting we ever anticipated the extent and length of time it would be with us," Morrison said in an interview with CBC News this month. 

The first case on P.E.I. was confirmed in March 2020. Within days, schools and workplaces, churches and concert halls all closed. Virtual activities took their place. Anyone wanting to come to P.E.I. had to be pre-approved, and was required to self-isolate until the virus's incubation period had passed. 

Case counts grew slowly, but still, Islanders stood in line for hours to get tested. In time, children returned to the classroom and a vaccine arrived. 

But in 2021, a new variant known as Omicron created new challenges for the Island, forcing P.E.I. into strict lockdowns such as the province had not seen before. Provincial officials had to respond quickly to protect Islanders, Morrison said.

The small size and island nature of P.E.I. made it unique in terms of how the virus spread and how the province responded in turn. Decisions were made by following the science wherever possible and making the best evidence-informed decisions with the information available, Morrison said. 

The provincial response had some effective outcomes — like the fact that the Island had the lowest death rate per capita of all Canadian provinces, and that there were no COVID-related deaths on P.E.I. for the first two years of the pandemic. 

But there were also unintended impacts of some of the measures, Morrison said. 

"In general, we made sure our health-care system was still able to function and not be overwhelmed in the ICU by so many sick people," she said. 

"I think we sometimes had collective trauma, and we have collective amnesia as a result of it, as well." 

Looking back on the response that started five years ago, and the effects it had on Islanders, she believes there are both lessons to be learned and moments to be proud of. 

Lessons learned 

The commitment of Islanders was a huge part of the province's pandemic response, Morrison said, adding that people responded to calls for testing, looked out for each other and wanted to protect their community. 

"We saw time and time again how much of a community we really were in," she said. 

That patience and kindness showed by Islanders during the early days of COVID-19 is something Morrison said she remembers most distinctly about that period of time. 

"A lot of things went really well in P.E.I., but there was never a great deal of acknowledgement about that," said Dr. Michael Gardam, who was involved with the province's pandemic response.

The infectious diseases specialist joined Health P.E.I. in 2020 as a senior medical adviser, later taking on the role of CEO.

"The system managed to get us through," he said. "That's probably the proudest moment in my career."

You've just run a marathon, and now you're told to sprint.— Dr. Michael Gardam

While the health-care system managed to keep chugging along, the COVID-19 pandemic did reveal weaknesses, Gardam said. 

Like other parts of Canada, P.E.I. dealt with a mass exodus of health-care workers. 

Gardam said what some people still struggle to understand is that the problem is not a lack of money to hire doctors and nurses, but a lack of doctors and nurses. 

At the same time many people were at home watching Netflix and teaching themselves to bake bread, health-care workers were not just going in to work every day, but being asked to step up and do more than ever, said Gardam. 

As the pandemic went on, people were overworked and became "absolutely fried," he said. 

"It was probably worse when [COVID] started to wane because that's when you want to have a break. You've just run a marathon, and now you're told to sprint," he said. 

Gardam said he doesn't think health-care workers across the country have ever been acknowledged for what they went through, and said asking them to "ramp up to 11" as the pandemic waned was "incredibly offensive." 

Public reaction has been split

Gardam has some regrets about how the pandemic response unfolded on P.E.I. 

"You learn as you go and you should change as you go. And that's what we didn't do," he said.

He said tougher measures were likely necessary at the start of the pandemic, but P.E.I. failed to adapt and ease some rules as more information became available. 

"We're still dealing with a public that's pretty pissed off with the pandemic on both sides," Gardam said, adding that there are people who say not enough was done to control the spread of the virus, while others disapprove of the entire response. 

"As you might expect, the answer is always in the middle somewhere." 

For Morrison, acknowledging differences of opinion is important.

"Maybe we need to do an even better job of explaining some of the science and building trust so that we make sure that people can understand some of those decisions," she said. 

But while disagreement was expected over such life-and-death issues, some of the public reaction on P.E.I. crossed a line, she said. 

What we were surprised about at times was the vitriol, and that was hard for individuals who felt threatened psychologically, physically by certain threats.— Dr. Heather Morrison

"What we were surprised about at times was the vitriol, and that was hard for individuals who felt threatened psychologically, physically by certain threats." 

At one point, Morrison said one of her children told her they didn't feel safe in their own house. 

"That was very hard to hear," she said. "In some ways, it's important to at least talk about it, because you don't want it to happen again to other people in my position — or anyone in leadership who's really trying to work in the best interest of Islanders." 

Next time? 

Five years after COVID-19 was first declared a pandemic, P.E.I. has learned valuable lessons that might help the Island when — not if — the next pandemic arrives, Morrison said. 

"As Islanders, we will know what measures worked and what ones, in hindsight, may not have worked as well. But each virus and each pandemic will be a little different," she said. 

Gardam agrees another pandemic will arrive eventually. He just hopes it isn't soon. 

"If P.E.I. got hit with a pandemic — if Canada got hit with a pandemic — our health-care system is the worst I've ever seen it right now and we're not prepared," he said.

"Now that we have an interval of peace time, we need to get our act together."