The wretched cost of dithering over whether to cancel events and demand social distancing seems to have resulted in the infection of at least eleven doctors and front line medical staff in Saskatchewan. The new cases all attended a bonspiel in Edmonton between March 11 and 14, just before a pandemic was declared. The total cases attributed to socializing at the bonspiel is 13. Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer Dr. Shaqib Shahab said 11 of those cases are “front-line health care staff and physicians” from Regina, Saskatoon, and Prince Albert. The other two are people connected to the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine.
Michael Garron Hospital under fire from union
Michael Garron Hospital is under fire from hospital unions because it asked employees to return directly to work after travel as long as they are as asymptomatic, a position that goes against advice from Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health. The hospital says it is conducting constant testing. The province has said that the only exception should be workers who are deemed “critical” to continued operations “by all parties.” He said that those employees could report to work but should “undergo regular screening, use appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the 14 days and undertake active self-monitoring, including taking their temperature twice daily.”
As many as 50 nurses exposed in emergency room
The Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) is urging a hospital in Kitchener to work with its leaders after as many as 50 nurses were exposed to COVID-19 in the ER of St. Mary’s Hospital. According to a statement from the union, multiple nurses were exposed at St. Mary’s while caring for someone in the emergency department who was screened for influenza, but not the coronavirus. The nurses reportedly performed medical procedures that made the virus air-borne and the patient was not isolated. Further, ONA President Vicki McKenna says the nurses were unable to access N-95 masks while they worked because “their employer strongly discourages nurses wearing them.”
