Emergency doctor shares COVID-19 story as a wake-up call to Albertans

"My name is Dr. Raj Sherman and I am an emergency room physician. In early November, I contracted COVID-19."

So begins a letter, posted one week ago on social media by the former Alberta Liberal Party leader.

It was written partly as a wake-up call to Albertans — and partly to share Sherman's personal feelings about contracting the disease.

"As soon as I found out, I was positive, I just wanted to go hide under a rock," Sherman, an emergency department physician at Edmonton's Royal Alexandra Hospital, told CBC Radio's Edmonton AM on Friday.

"I didn't want to worry my family — my mother was the last person I told," he said. "Despite the recommendations and masking in public and avoiding crowds, I still got the virus."

Sherman's COVID-19 was mild and he didn't require a hospital stay. Nonetheless, he said it was the worst illness he has suffered since going through chickenpox when he was 31.

It started about a month ago with a throat tickle, he said.

"Then about a week of fever and chills and my skin was hurting. You know, with the flu your muscles ache for two days, right? My skin was sore," he said. 

He lost his senses of taste and smell and had weeks of utter exhaustion. For several days, Sherman had difficulty breathing and even now his asthma remains "a little bit out of control."

'I failed to protect myself'

The 55-year-old said he doesn't know how he contracted the novel coronavirus. 

"But what I will say is, somewhere along the way, I failed to protect myself. And frankly I felt a little ashamed because, as a health-care worker, we take pride in protecting ourselves at work. We're very diligent at work." 

The letter he posted pleads with Albertans to set aside their politics and opinions and step up to the challenge, as they did in the spring, of following health-care measures designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

He reiterated concerns about the health-care system's ability to cope with the surging number of cases since the beginning of October. As of Thursday, there were 682 Albertans in hospitals, including 124 in intensive care.

"This virus is something that spreads undetected. This is something we've never seen before," he said. 

"My concern is, at a time when people in the community are getting sicker, our hospitalizations are going up. My big concern is when staff start getting sick, we're going to have major, major problems."

Sherman was elected in 2008 as an Edmonton MLA for the governing Progressive Conservative party. He was suspended from caucus in 2010 after criticizing the government about emergency department wait times.

He sat as an Independent before being elected leader of the Alberta Liberal Party in the fall of 2011. He stepped down from the position a few months before the 2015 election.

Sherman applauded the strict measures recently announced by Premier Jason Kenney and said the government has been clear with its message of personal responsibility.

"Unfortunately at this time in Alberta, that failed," he said.

"The premier and the government have done what they can do, but as citizens moving forward, we need to do five things.

"We've got to wear a mask when we're in public. We must sanitize our hands regularly. We've got to keep our distance from one another and minimize in-person contact, especially over the Christmas holiday season," he said.

"Don't go to work sick and isolate yourself if you do get sick and get a swab. And lastly, when your turn comes, please get vaccinated."