'I wish I could close my eyes and make it go away': Quebec ICU doctor on working through Omicron

MONTREAL -

Many are tired. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a drastic, dramatic and fatiguing effect on almost everyone.

But few groups of people are more tired and taxed than doctors in intensive care units.

Dr. Amelie Boisclair is an ICU specialist that has been chronicling the experience on Twitter, and said she has never seen a similar situation.

"We're used to stress, to human drama, to losing life, but that amount of stress day after day, hour after hour, it's totally new," she said.

The hardest part for Boisclair was learning that her own experiences aren't always reflected, or understood, in the outside world.

"You see yourself struggle, sometimes cry, and from time to time, you go out and see people on the outside and it feels like there's nothing going on, and you kind of question yourself," she said.

"Maybe because I'm in that unit with COVID patients that I don't see the rest of the world, but, no. It's still there. I wish I could close my eyes and make it go away, but, no, the pandemic is there."

There are currently 122 people in intensive care wards for treatment with COVID-19, an increase of seven from Tuesday. Hospitalizations are currently at 804.

Boisclair said governments could have communicated better with everyone from the outset of the pandemic, and she is angry at those people who are relying on fake news and misinformation.

"If people saw what I saw, would they understand what we asked them to do? Which was to stay home," said Boisclair.

-- Watch Caroline Van Vlaardingen's interview with Dr. Boisclair above.

 

COVID-19 CASES IN QUEBEC
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