March 21, 2020 COVID-19 report

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Can health providers returning from travel go back to work immediately? I received today over 50 emails from staff nurses concerned over contradictory directives and fearing for their health, that of their colleagues, patients and families.

March 22, 2020 COVID-19 report

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PPEs: A key area of concern is the availability of PPEs for the protection of nurses, physicians, other health workers and patients. Given the extensive community spread of COVID-19, and the evidence that persons, including health workers, became contagious before symptoms appear, one cannot assume that asymptomatic health workers are not spreading the virus.

March 22, 2020 COVID-19 report

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PPEs: A key area of concern is the availability of PPEs for the protection of nurses, physicians, other health workers and patients. Given the extensive community spread of COVID-19, and the evidence that persons, including health workers, became contagious before symptoms appear, one cannot assume that asymptomatic health workers are not spreading the virus

March 23, 2020 COVID-19 report

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I want to start by thanking you for reaching out to us with your experiences, your concerns and also your thanks. After reviewing and responding to most of today’s issues, PEE availability is undoubtedly today’s top concern. These is a concern for the protection of nurses, physicians, paramedics, midwives, lab technicians, other health workers and patients – with added urgency in long term care, primary care and home care.

March 24, 2020 COVID-19 report

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It is Tuesday – although it feels more like… another long day! This COVID-19 bandit thinks that it’s stronger and wiser than us! And, although today, and in more difficult days to come, it might feel like that, we are going to prove COVID-19 wrong! Because we are resilient, strong and united – and because we have each other’s back!

March 25, 2020 COVID-19 report

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I was speaking with nurses and doctors in Spain, last night, as they were preparing to vacate non-COVID-19 patients from Vall d'Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, since most of the hospital becomes COVID-19. One of my colleagues said: “We must keep in mind this is not a bottomless pit, but a tunnel… there is light at the end of it, and we will come out.”

March 26, 2020 COVID-19 report

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I call this a “war with COVID-19” as I called it back then, in the early 2000s, “a war with SARS” – because a war it is. Although the health system is immensely better coordinated than during SARS, and we, as nurses, have the ear of all – we are still moving at too slow a pace for COVID-19.

March 28, 2020 COVID-19 report

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It is Saturday March 28th at 11pm. Saturdays are usually a time of rest, except for those working a shift. Today, however, it’s not the same. As a front-line nurse working in a hospital, you are either in a shift, coming back from one or planning your next one tomorrow. These are not normal shifts since COVID-19 has turned everything on its head. If you are a directors of infection control, manager or executive in a health organization, this in no normal weekend either, packed with preparations and ramping up execution.