'We've certainly learned a lot': Dr. Janice Fitzgerald looks back and forward after two years of COVID-19

It's been a long two years for Newfoundland and Labrador Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, thrustinto the public eye during a pandemic and ending up on everything from stickers and posters to memes and rugs.

As Newfoundland and Labrador liftspandemic restrictions this week, Fitzgerald is looking back at her own experiences through theCOVID-19 pandemic,what the province can take away from the last two years, and what comes next.

Fitzgerald spoke with the CBC's Martin Jones earlier this week.

The discussion has been edited for length and clarity.

Q:Let's look back to that very first case of COVID-19 in this province. Did you anticipate that you'd spend the next two years giving media briefings about them?

A:I don't know if any of us really anticipated quite the intensity that it was going to be for two years. But we certainly knew that if we were heading to a pandemic well, at that point we were that it was going to be quite some time before things would settle down. I think very early on the predictions were around two years. So we knew that we were probably going to end up at this point, but I don't know that we anticipated just how involved it was going to be.

Mostrestrictions are now gone, andthere's mixed feelings. What can you say to those people who might be on the fence right now, who may not be able to fully embrace these new freedoms that most of us have?

I say that I completely understand how people feel in that regard. It has been two years that we've been saying we've been trying to avoid getting COVID. And I guess we should still avoid trying to get it, but what we're dealing with now is a little bit different, a fair bit different, actually, than what we dealt with in the beginning and what we've dealt with even last year around this time with the Alpha wave that we had and all the Delta cases through the summer and the fall. So it does allow us to make these moves.This is going to continue to evolve for some time yet, and we do need to learn ways that we can safely live with COVID in our midst. And most of those tools we already know, and we know well.

You talked there about learning to live with COVID-19, certainly with the Omicron variant. It's still very much an issue here in this province. What circumstances would need to exist to return to restrictions like we've seen over the past couple of years?

It's difficult to predict, but certainly I think we would be reluctant to, you know, to have to go back to that. We know that there have been quite a few consequences as a result of these restrictions.So we have to be very thoughtful and very careful about how we apply them. I think we would certainly have to see a more virulent variant, as well as one where the vaccine is not as protective against severe disease as we're seeingwith the Omicron variant. And as we have seen with other variants as well, even with Delta, this vaccine was quite protective both against transmission and severe disease. So, you know, we have all of those things that are working in our favour right now, so we have to remember that.

Should we be wary of another pandemic or another wave? Is it a matter ofwhen, rather than if it happens?

At the risk of sounding like, you know, Debbie Downer pandemics have happened throughout history and pandemics will continue to happen throughout history. In 2009, we had an H1N1 pandemic and now this. We will see pandemics again, and I think the most important thing that we have to do now is take the lessons that we've learned throughout COVID and make sure that we we really improve our defences. We don't know what the future will bring. So the best we can do is to learn from what we've been through and to make sure that we have all the things in place to be able to respond.

As a province,what have we learned over the past couple of years?

We've certainly learned a lot of information if we're thinking very practically. I mean masking, certainly we've seen the benefits of masking in respiratory diseases and in the prevention of respiratory diseases. I think that's really important and something we need to take forward. I think some of the infection prevention and control measures that we've learned in our long-term care facilities and personal-care homes, I think that's information that we have to take and we have to improve. We have to take that information that we've learned and we have to find a way to balance that protection from infectious disease with maintaining a wellness for people who live in these facilities.

I think we've learned a lot about our resiliency as a province and our, I guess, cohesiveness as the province. I think we've all learned that we can do really, really hard things when we all work together.

You became the face, in a way, of this province during the pandemic.Were you surprised by the connection this province had with you and the message that you were giving?

I was a little bit surprised with that, I think that would be fair to say. We always know that in public health that part of our job is public communication. And so we do expect that we're going to be in front of the public from time to time. I don't think I anticipated this level of being out in the public. I'm very happy with the way that people have connected. People have, I think, listened and people have taken the message and they really have done their very best.

In some ways I'm not surprised because Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have always been been like that:supportive and looking out for each other. So I think it's just a really shining example of who we are as aprovince and as people.

But I feel like it went a step beyond that a little bit. I mean, suddenly you were on T-shirts, you were memes, people were rug-hooking you. Were you comfortable with that?

I don't know. I mean, I wasn't, I wasn't upset by it, I guess.I appreciate that when you're the person who's delivering the news, whether it's good or bad, that people are going to connect and are going to rely on you and see you in that way to some degree. But, you know, Iam a fairly private person. I like my anonymity so that part of it has been a bit difficult. But, you know, people overwhelmingly have been kind. And I think that certainly made it easier.

Knowing that I had that team around me helped to ease my anxieties. We've been a support for each other, I think. I mean everybody has had those days where they feel like things are going off the rails and and thankfully, not everybody on the team had those days at the same time.

So what's next? Obviously COVID is still part of our lives and you still have a very busy job, but will we see you in the same way or what happens now?

Well, I hope that you don't have to see me in the same way. But as always we will, I'm sure, from time to time have to talk to the public. The legislation says we have to do that about the March state of emergency that we had. And so that's our focus. And then sort of looking at those lessons learned as we have done and and then moving on to the rest of the work of public health that's been, you know, for the most part on hold throughout this pandemic. There's lots of work and focus to be done, and I'm sure you'll be seeing me again. Maybe not quite as often, but I'm sure you will.

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