SYDNEY, N.S. -- Some doctors and nurses have been told to self-isolate at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney, N.S.

It's the second time during the pandemic that staff at the hospital have been sent home as a precaution.

It's been a big fear among front-line health-care workers since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

When nurses and physicians learned more about the virus, fear set in.

"The data out of Italy was really quite frightening because they were talking about death rates of 10 per cent," said Cape Breton physician Dr. Chris Milburn. "When you catch something and have one in 10 chance of dying, that's pretty darn bad and scary. So for us front-line workers who were looking at that, that was a very frightening thing when it was on the way."

The eastern zone of Nova Scotia reported a case of COVID-19 over the weekend -- the first time in more than 10 days.

The Nova Scotia Health Authority says eight staff members at the island's largest hospital have been told to self-isolate as a precaution.

That means other nurses and doctors will be forced to cover their shifts for at least 14 days.

"It does create concern for the staff, but we've been managing very well with that," said Dr. Margaret Fraser. "We've managed to find staff to cover when staff have had to go off on isolation. It's inevitable with a disease like this that there are going to be times when we have staff on isolation."

Dr. Fraser says staffing has been a challenge in the critical care areas before COVID-19 and shortages were a worry because both doctors and nurses are valuable commodities in the province.

"If we had of run into a situation where a number of our doctors were off sick at once, it would've been a real challenge for us," said Dr. Milburn.

As staff continue to deal with COVID-19 at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital, there's fear among the public as well. The ER department has been virtually empty during the pandemic.

"I have unfortunately seen some patients who have delayed and ended up being significantly unwell before they came in," said Dr. Fraser.

For now, doctors on the island say COVID-19 is manageable and are hoping it stays that way.