ARICHAT - Dr. Robert Martel has spent a lifetime battling disease of every sort, but at a time when most physicians his age are enjoying their retirement, he has re-activated his medical license to assist with the provincial battle against novel coronavirus. 

In a feature-length interview with Telile Community Television's Adam Cooke, Dr. Martel suggested that the world may have to face some form of COVID-19 for the foreseeable future, well after the end of the current first wave and beyond the second wave that is projected to swamp the world in the second half of 2020. 

The West Arichat-based physician, who ended his retirement in the early stages of Nova Scotia's state of emergency this past March, said on July 9 that while he is pleased with the general reaction to the pandemic in southern Cape Breton, he does not see as many masks as he would like in the general public, and he is concerned that "pandemic fatigue" has settled in among many people living in the Strait of Canso.

While he discounted the use of protective gloves that were popular in the early stages of the pandemic this past winter and spring, Dr. Martel suggested that few means of protection work better than the wearing of masks and the long-running directive to wash one's hands thoroughly with soap and water on a regular basis. 

The medical veteran also warned that, even if current clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine prove successful, local residents should not become complacent because the virus is constantly changing and does not act in the same manner as many common viruses such as basic influenza.