Page 8 - RADC 2020

The abroad COVID-19 experience
As we can see from Maj Walker’s article COVID-19 has had a massive effect both in the UK and globally, and we have all experienced the restrictions this has had on our lives and our dentistry. However, what I thought would be interesting to consider is how the pandemic has affected those dental teams posted abroad.
DPHC (Dental) restrictions will clearly have applied to all of us but how did the responses from the different countries affect our personnel?
CANADA
Before setting foot in Canada, I had never really appreciated how vast it is. As the second largest country in the world it spans a whopping 6 time zones. In fact, London is closer to much of Eastern Canada than BATUS!
Situated in Alberta, a province almost
3 times the size of the UK but with a population of just 4.4 million, BATUS is a very isolated community. So, what is the relevance? When you consider the huge difference in population density between the UK and Alberta, it is clear that Alberta has
a natural advantage when trying to manage a disease outbreak such as COVID-19.
This, among other reasons, resulted in a significantly lower rate of disease in Alberta compared with the UK. At the peak of the pandemic, the rate of hospital admissions
in England was 35.8/100,000 of the population, compared with only 2.1/100,000 in Alberta.
To manage affairs, Canada is divided into 10 provinces, each having its own
provincial government and Chief Medical Officer. At the start of the outbreak in
March, Alberta had the third highest per capita testing rate of anywhere in the world and that testing capacity has continued to expand throughout the pandemic. This has enabled the province to trace and contain the spread of the virus right from the outset. Additionally, Alberta moved quickly to implement prevention measures much earlier in the course of the
pandemic compared
with the UK. The first
confirmed case in
Alberta was on 06
March and by 15
March all schools
were closed to pupils.
On 27 March, with
just 502 confirmed
cases, Alberta’s
Premier Jason Kenny
announced the
closure of all non-
essential businesses
including shops,
restaurants and bars.
These strict early measures, combined with the aforementioned factors, enabled Alberta to avoid complete lockdown. Whilst the UK was announcing lockdown extensions into early May, Alberta was preparing to begin their relaunch strategy.
Stage 1 of Alberta’s relaunch began on 14 May and although significant restrictions were imposed, many businesses including shops, bars, restaurants, museums, hair salons and nurseries were able to resume
operations. The Alberta Dental Association, who had been very quick to announce the cessation of routine dentistry from 17 March put out a statement to say that ‘as of May 14, 2020, all Alberta dentists are permitted to return to full provision of services’. This announcement was supplemented with very clear recommendations, including
the use of appropriate PPE and screening protocols which enabled a swift return to
dentistry for the local civilian practices. Of course, Dental Centre BATUS is governed by DPHC meaning
we had additional considerations. However, in liaison with AH Dental, we were able to resume routine dental services to the PAR from the 01 July, wearing the necessary PPE when AGPs couldn’t be avoided.
The team of Maj Tom Konarzewski, Cpl Kwesi Nyalemegbe
and Miss Krysten Bachler have worked very hard over the past 4 months to comply with DPHC COVID-19 guidelines whilst returning the dental fitness of the serving personnel back up to 75% NATO Cat 1. Although travel restrictions have been imposed since March, the team feels very fortunate to have been living in Alberta during the pandemic. As home to some of the most beautiful scenery and treasured National Parks in
Alberta moved quickly to implement prevention measures much earlier in the course of the pandemic compared with the UK
6 RADC BULLETIN 2020
COVID