At the beginning of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Megan Devlin had no idea that a year later, she'd be heading up a clinic for coronavirus patients and still learning about a virus that has change our way of life.

"We didn't think that this would have such a significant impact and such a long-lasting societal impact," said Devlin, an infectious disease physician with both St. Joseph's Health Care and the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC).

She is presently part of the team working at LHSC's Urgent COVID Care Clinic. It's one of six clinics in Canada that sees so-called long-haul patients who report symptoms that last for months, as well as acute patients.

"Our world is completely different and we're going to be dealing with this for longer than we predicted."

Everyone's course with COVID is different, from mild to severe, and anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 in London is referred to the COVID Care Clinic. Patients are monitored virtually unless their symptoms worsen, in which case they can bypass the ER and get into the appropriate part of the hospital.

"We worked quite quickly to set up the clinic and it serves to support medically anyone with a positive test result in the London area," Devlin said.

So far, the nine doctors and two nurses who work on the team have seen 660 patients.

In all cases, their oxygen saturation is monitored, and during the acute phase of the illness, a nurse calls every day to check in. Patients are given referrals to mental health supports they can access, because many have anxiety about their COVID diagnosis.

"We've learned as physicians that every single person's course with COVID can be very different," Devlin said. "We try to support people with respiratory symptoms such as cough, shortness of breath, and low oxygen levels. There's also significant nausea, vomiting, not being able to eat."

Because the clinic is virtual, sometimes the doctors and nurses are based at sites around the city. Sometimes, they're calling patients from home to follow up or to give referrals to specialists.

Some patients are given a pulse oximeter, which measures their oxygen absorption, which can be monitored virtually.

"A lot of our patients are really thankful for our clinic, especially those who have a more severe course of the disease," Devlin said.