The private cost of public service: how sharing science about COVID put experts in the crosshairs

Dr. Alex Wong vividly remembers the night, five years ago, when he read modelling data about the potential surge of COVID-19 positive patients in Saskatchewan. His kids were sleeping peacefully, unaware of what was coming.

"[It] basically showed that we were going to get crushed, like the system was going to get crushed," he said, revealing that he and many others felt a deep-seated fear and anxiety about what was to come. "I read that and I just felt this horrible pit in my stomach."

COVID-19 hit Saskatchewan in the spring of 2020, with the province announcing its first case on March 12.

It was the start of an exhausting journey for health-care workers, who say they're still trying to recover from the toll it took on them.

Wong is an infectious diseases doctor and is married to a registered nurse. Both served on the front lines of the pandemic, but Wong said he felt an extra responsibility to share public health information, doing multiple interviews with media outlets throughout Saskatchewan and on national shows, while also posting on social media.

"It became — just like I think it would be for anyone — a little bit of an obsession, right?" he said, remembering his foray into the world of Twitter. "I was getting all of these likes and follows and subscriptions. I mean, my phone literally just crashed [because] it was nonstop."

The early days of the pandemic were a frightening time.

"You saw just young, otherwise healthy people just dying and there was just nothing we could do. There was no vaccine at that time," he said.

The turning point for Wong was in January 2022.

The stress of his daily work combined with his public health advocacy brought his body to a breaking point. Wong said he physically could not walk for a time — his entire body seized up and felt tight, forcing him to take time off while he sought help.

"In hindsight, all of that was most likely sort of the physical manifestation of stress," he said, noting it happened at the peak of the Omicron variant surge, while public policy was diverging from what public health leaders were calling for.

"Looking back at it, yeah, that probably was kind of the beginning of the end [of appearances] for me."

His posts dried up and he stopped all media interviews. He went, in his own words, "radio silent."

The disinformation machine

Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Saskatoon-based Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, also felt the impact of being a public and outspoken health figure.

As someone who studies emerging viruses, she was part of a team chasing a vaccine.

"I'm a lot less trusting than I used to be, just because I've had so many experiences with people acting in bad faith," she said, adding many people have financial and political incentives to sow disinformation.

That disinformation was served up with a side of hateful commentary about her personally. She remembers being called all kinds of names, including "a fraud, and a loser and ugly."

"You can't be bathed in a deluge of unflattering, derogatory dehumanizing comments and not have it have some effect on your mental health," she said.

Wong said the scars from the COVID-19 pandemic are long-lasting for many health-care workers. He said many left their professions in Saskatchewan because of the "moral trauma, moral injury" they faced.

"I think the system is still trying to recover," he said.

Wong now tries to carve out more time for himself, to connect with his wife and four children, reminding himself of the preciousness of family time that became so clear in the face of a public health crisis.

"I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to kind of earn people's trust and respect," he said.

"Maybe that time will come again at some point. But if it doesn't, I won't shed a tear."

This story is from the This is Saskatchewan podcast — your connection to the stories Saskatchewan is talking about. Every week, Leisha Grebinski and Nichole Huck will cover local issues that matter. Hear the voices that are creating change, shaping policy and fuelling creativity in Saskatchewan.

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