July 17 2021 COVID-19 report

Dear Colleagues: Welcome to our Saturday, July 17 report during this seventeenth month of COVID-19 in Ontario. You can find earlier update reports here, including thematic pieces in Doris’ COVID-19 Blog. And, for the many resources RNAO offers on COVID-19, please visit the COVID-19 Portal where you will also find RNAO media hits and releases on the pandemic here. Daily Situational Reports from Ontario's MOH EOC can be found here. As always, feel free to share this report and links with anyone interested. Scroll down for policy updates for all to act on & must join events.

Our thoughts and solidarity go to the residents of Barrie, Ontario affected by the awful tornado that hit the community on July 15. If any of our members requires support, please write to Daniel Lau <dlau@rnao.ca> and we will do all we can to help.  

 

URGENT: Please answer the survey on nurses’ wellbeing (for ALL RNs, NPs, RPNs, LPNs and nursing students anywhere in Canada). Go here to answer.

Dear Colleague,

We need to hear from you. This international COVID-19 nursing workforce survey will help us all gain a better understanding of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Canada’s nursing workforce and how it compares to other countries in the world. What’s the same? What’s unique? What’s the path forward? 

The survey is a chance to tell your story. The survey results will compare what happened in various jurisdictions in Canada with other regions around the world. We know that nurses have experienced the pandemic in different ways. We urge you to make your voice heard.

Please fill out the survey today. Many thanks to those who have already completed the survey.

Warm regards,

Doris

Please go here to answer. Deadline to fill out the survey is July 31.

 

 

RNAO launches #FullyVaccinated social media campaign and calls for mandatory vaccination for health-care workers

RNAO issued the following press release on July 15, 2021.

Together, Ontarians have faced some of the toughest obstacles of this pandemic. But our work is not over. The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) has launched a new #FullyVaccinated social media campaign to encourage everyone to receive both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, and is calling for mandatory vaccination for health-care workers in contact with patients.

So far, 69 per cent of Ontarians over 12 years old have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while only 50 per cent have received their second dose. Ontario must continue to keep the momentum going until all who are eligible to receive the vaccine get both doses.

“Ontario, Canada and many places around the world are facing highly contagious COVID-19 variants. The best defence to beat this virus is to get vaccinated and encourage everyone around you to receive both doses of the vaccine,” says RNAO President Morgan Hoffarth. “We call on all Ontarians, Canadians and everyone around the world to join us in our #FullyVaccinated social media campaign to stop the spread of COVID-19 once and for all.”

In addition to the #FullyVaccinated campaign, RNAO is also calling for the Ontario government to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for all health-care workers, especially those working directly with patients.

To increase vaccination rates, the provincial government must make it easier and faster for health-care workers to get fully vaccinated by:

• bringing vaccinations to workplaces
• providing an additional two paid sick days for workers to be vaccinated

“As nurses, we are trusted health-care leaders for evidence-based practice . We advocate for patients’ physical, mental and emotional needs. To ensure patients are receiving the best quality care possible, we call on all nurses to get two doses and become role models for other health-care workers,” says RNAO CEO Dr. Doris Grinspun.

“Marginalized communities and individuals have been a prime target for COVID-19 and even now, they are struggling to access the vaccine. The Ontario government must bring vaccines to workplaces and add an additional two paid sick days (one per dose) to keep the province on the right track,” says Grinspun.

What: #FullyVaccinated is a social media campaign to encourage all eligible Ontarians to receive both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

How to participate: Tag @RNAO in your photos on Twitter or @registerednurses on Instagram of you and your loved ones before, during or after receiving your COVID-19 vaccine. Include the hashtag #FullyVaccinated along with your reason for receiving the vaccine. Participants have a chance to be featured in RNAO’s fully vaccinated hall of fame on social media. Also, see our website for #Fullyvaccinated images to share on social media and use as your Twitter banner and email signature.

 

UPDATE: We are delighted that the Ontario Medical Association has joined the #MandatoryVaccination movement. RNAO invites other organizations and individuals to do so urgently. You do not need any approvals to join, and you are welcome to benefit from all our materials and promotions here.

 

Please RT the tweets here and here and here.

 

Mandatory vaccination for healthcare workers – Exploring issues, challenges and supports

RNAO has lead the advocacy for mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for healthcare workers in Ontario. Drawing on experts, in this article we explore the issues and challenges involved and the way forward.

Provincial and territorial governments in Canada should institute mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for health care workers that cut across all public and private settings, argues an article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. As frontline workers, those in healthcare are both at increased risk of contracting the virus and of transmitting it. The authors argue that an effective vaccine provided to all healthcare workers in Canada would protect both the health workforce and patients, reducing the overall burden of COVID-19 on services and ensuring adequate qualified personnel to ensure people’s health needs are met through the pandemic. They also point to other advantages of mandatory vaccinations:  the expense and difficulty of procuring PPE [editor: as well as that of ongoing COVID-19 testing] and, pragmatically, whether PPE is used appropriately to effectively reduce the risk of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 infection for both healthcare workers and their patients.

The authors call on provincial and territorial governments to set clear rules for vaccination of health care workers across public and private settings and not to leave this task to individual employers. They also address the legality of these mandates. Legality would likely be determined via labour law that considers the “reasonableness” of the employer’s directive, such as what happened with case law related to mandatory influenza vaccination. In 2019, nurses in B.C. won a case against mandatory vaccination policies at their workplaces, making vaccination a matter of individual choice. However, COVID-19 is not influenza. Given the severity of the global pandemic, the authors suggest it is unlikely that challenges to a government mandate would be successful. The authors believe that a challenge under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms would likely not succeed if provisions were made for those who could not receive the vaccination due to underlying health issues or for those who object to vaccination on religious or conscientious objection grounds.

This article was published in February 2021. Since it was published, I will argue that five developments strengthen the conclusions of the study. One is the growing evidence about the outstanding effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines rolled out in Canada in preventing serious illness and hospitalization (much higher than the effectiveness of the typical influenza vaccine). Second, there is mounting evidence that vaccines reduce transmission of the virus (although they do not eliminate it). Third, the deployment of the vaccines and the minuscule rate of serious side effects across millions of individuals has reinforced their safety profile. Fourth is the arrival of new variants, such as delta, that are more transmissible and dangerous and that target those who are unvaccinated. And fifth, we are experiencing a major health human resources crisis – especially in nursing – that makes COVID-19-related absences from work more challenging to replace. Thus, from a legal perspective, the health reward from mandating the vaccine and the risk from remaining unvaccinated have both increased. In short, the “reasonableness” test for mandating vaccines has strengthened.

Many jurisdictions, organizations and coalitions are raising the question of mandatory vaccination for healthcare workers. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities should require employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, argues a consensus statement by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and six other leading U.S. organizations representing medical professionals working in infectious diseases, infection prevention, pharmacy, pediatrics, and long-term care. The paper specifies exemption for those with medical contraindications and some other circumstances in compliance with federal and state laws. The guidelines issued by the coalition — which include recommendations for engaging wary employees, navigating regulations and how to enforce a mandatory coronavirus vaccination policy — were crafted by a team of nearly 30 experts during the past two months. This is a move supported by infectious-disease expert Anthony S. Fauci, who suggested that “there should be more mandates” at the local level to curb virus spread.

Enacting a mandatory vaccination policy encourages the vast majority of the workers to take the vaccine, but it also raises resistance from a small number of opposers. That has been the experience of Houston Methodist, a large U.S. hospital system that announced April 1 to staffers they would need to be vaccinated to keep their jobs. While 24,974 workers are now vaccinated, about 150 workers resigned or were fired for refusing to do so. Last month, a federal district court judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by one of those employees, Jennifer Bridges, a former nurse who alleged the policy was unlawful and forced staffers to be “guinea pigs” for vaccines that had not gone through the full Food and Drug Administration approval process.

A paper in the BMJ journal assesses the British and international experience implementing mandatory vaccination for healthcare workers. Here is a summary:

• Public Health England’s 2019-20 report on seasonal influenza vaccines revealed that one in four healthcare workers did not get a flu vaccine. And there are indications that roughly the same proportion of people are wary of having covid-19 vaccines.
• The UK government will make covid vaccination mandatory for home care staff starting in October 2021, and is considering whether to extend the policy to NHS staff. Advocates argue that it is not dissimilar to hepatitis B vaccination, which is required by some hospital trusts. But such policies have never been tested legally. Trusts ask staff to receive the hepatitis B vaccine but, in practice, those who don’t are simply taken off duties that could expose them to the disease.
• In Italy, the government introduced in March a requirement for health workers, including pharmacists, to be vaccinated before treating patients. Serbia is considering a similar stance. “The aim of the measure is to protect as much as possible both medical and paramedical staff and those who are in environments that may be more exposed to the risk of infection,” the Italian government said in a statement. Those who refuse face suspension without pay for the rest of the year. The government moved after clusters of hospital infections were linked to unvaccinated staff and is designed to combat an endemic anti-vaccination movement in the country.
• Saudi Arabia has taken perhaps the hardest line: no jab, no job. In May, its government said employees in the public, private, and non-profit sectors must be vaccinated before they can return to work.
• Most countries are, however, yet to tackle the difficult question and, among those that have, policies differ in terms of the types of workers, situations, and strictness in insisting on vaccination.
• In Moscow, two million people in public facing jobs, including frontline health workers, have been told they must be vaccinated by the city’s mayor after a spike in cases. Businesses will be monitored to make sure they comply – at least 60% of employees must have a first dose by 15 July or firms risking being fined.
• Ireland hasn’t ruled out making covid-19 vaccination mandatory for health workers, but the country’s health regulator called it the “most intrusive step” that should only be considered if the risk to patients from unvaccinated health staff was high because of increased community transmission. Some hospital trusts in Ireland have already sent staff who refuse to be vaccinated home on full pay to avoid them being close to patients.

In recent days, France and Greece have announced that vaccinations will be mandatory for healthcare workers. On July 12 French president Emmanuel Macron announced that mandatory vaccination would apply to anyone who comes into contact with vulnerable people, including doctors, nurses, office staff, and volunteers. They must be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by 15 September or will risk not being paid. He added that from 21 July anyone wanting to visit a theatre, cinema, sports venue, or festival involving an audience of more than 50 people would need to show a pass proving that they were either fully vaccinated or had tested negative. From August 1st this requirement will extend to cafes, bars, restaurants, shopping malls, and long distance trains. After his announcement almost a million people, most of them under 35, booked their vaccination. In Greece the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, announced that nursing home staff needed to get vaccinated immediately, while healthcare workers would have to be vaccinated from September 1st.

Experts agree that simply imposing a mandate to vaccinate is not enough. There must be accompanying policies to promote, facilitate and encourage vaccination. An article focuses on the Australian mandate for COVID-19 vaccination for residential aged-care workers, with the aim to ensure all aged-care staff have received their first dose by mid-September. The author identifies several actions and policies to support implementation:

• More on-site vaccination at workplaces as opposed to seeking vaccination appointments via mass clinics. In this sector, the delivery of vaccination is complicated by variations in staff working hours. Providing the vaccine at their place of work can potentially address issues around access to vaccination.
• Seeing coworkers getting vaccinated may help build confidence in those who are sitting on the fence. Workplace provision of vaccination plays an important part in the decision to immunise among aged-care workers, with higher vaccination rates in facilities providing on-site vaccination.
• Support conversations within the facilities to ensure staff members understand why the shift in policy has occurred, to address any misinformation and to support them to take up the vaccine.
• As English may be a second language for a portion of workers, efforts are required to ensure information sheets and booking systems are available in other languages.
• Be mindful to adopt best practice to support engagement with vaccine services for people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
• Support in booking appointments for workers who may have limited computer skills.

The author identifies leave time (paid time off) to take the vaccine as an important factor. It is essential to ensure aged-care workers can take time off if needed to access off-site vaccination appointments, and to recover if they experience any adverse reactions.

 

POLICY UPDATES FOR ALL TO ACT ON & MUST JOIN EVENTS – OPEN TO ALL

 

RNAO Action Alerts

Take action on Bill 124 and sign the Action Alert. Add your voice to 5,000 others calling on Premier Ford to exempt health-care workers from Bill 124. We also join in the call to #RepealBill124. This is more important than ever as we see a fast deterioration of nursing human resources with colleagues leaving the profession or moving to the United States.

Take action on global vaccine access: Sign an Action Alert calling on Prime Minister Trudeau to ensure global vaccine access. Let’s also make sure we urge Prime Minister Trudeau to match President Biden’s commitments to Covax.

 

Call on elected leaders to step up and end the opioid crisis: Sign an Action Alert calling on politicians at all orders of government to work together to save lives and bring this crisis to an end.

Enshrine a nursing home basic care guarantee in legislation, premier, set the path forward! Sign an Action Alert! Call on the premier to enshrine in legislation RNAO’s Nursing Home Basic Care Guarantee.

 

NP LTC Council Webinar

Jul 22, 2021, 12:00pm - 4:00pm

Please join us for our upcoming NP LTC Council webinar to be held on July 22, 2021. This is our regular monthly NP LTC Council that has been an important forum for NPs working in LTC to discuss clinical, operational, and policy-related issues in LTC, build networks, exchange knowledge, and inform RNAO’s advocacy work related to NPs and the LTC sector.

By popular request, we are focusing our July webinar on the Serious Illness Conversation Program, which NPs will find very helpful in working with residents, and their families. The Serious Illness Conversation Program helps those with identified palliative care needs or their substitute decision-makers have structured discussions with their inter professional health care team about their goals of care. These values-based discussions focus on ensuring an accurate understanding of both the illness and treatment options so the person or their substitute decision-maker has the information they need to make decisions about their treatment.

Presenter:

Jean Benton, NP-PHC, Attending NP, Marianhill Long-Term Care and Community Services, Pembroke

REGISTER NOW

 

Continuing the Conversation: An Open Forum for Nurses

Aug 18, 2021, 2:30pm - 4:00pm

Topic: Nursing student transitions into the workplace: Experiences and supports

COVID-19 has disrupted nursing education. Hands-on clinical placements have been replaced by simulation, in-class learning has gone virtual and students are completing their education at a time when all energy is focused on the global pandemic. Thousands of Ontario nursing students will be entering the nursing workforce at a critical time in history for health care: one where structural inequities and system failures have been brought to the spotlight, and where nurses, exhausted from relentless waves of the pandemic, are facing burnout and considering leaving the profession in larger numbers than usual. However, the pandemic has also raised the centrality of our profession and reinforced that without nurses the health-care system will collapse. RNAO is issuing a call to ensure the next generation of nurses thrive in the profession.

During this heart-to-heart nursing forum, you will hear from nursing students, new grads and educators who will discuss the following questions:

• What has it been like being a nursing student during this time? What are your hopes, needs and concerns?
• What is required to support students in their final year as they transition into the workforce so they have an exciting and long career in nursing?

REGISTER NOW

Visit our COVID-19 Portal for additional resources and information on psychosocial support.

Information about prior webinars can be found here.

 

Webinar: COVID-19 Webinar Series

September 13, 2021, 2:00pm - 4:00pm

When: Every second Monday of the month (except for August)

RNAO's CEO Doris Grinspun will be hosting COVID-19 webinars for health providers.

Topics include:

• updates on COVID-19 and the health system: latest news and pressing issues
• guest speakers (as applicable)
• questions and answers
• calls to action

Health providers from Ontario, Canada, and anywhere in the world are welcome to join at no cost.

We are here with you in solidarity. Together, we will continue to tackle COVID-19 with the best tools at hand, including accurate information, calmness, determination and swift actions!

Upcoming webinar:

September 13, 2021, 2 - 4 p.m. ET

Details and registration link coming soon.

Watch and read about earlier webinars here.

 

MOH EOC Situational Report

We are posting each day the Daily Situational Reports from Ontario's MOH EOC at RNAO’s website. That way, you can access the Ministry’s guidance at any time.

For a more detailed Ontario epidemiological summary from Public Health Ontario, you can always go here.

Here is a segment from the last Situation Report #472 for July 15:

 

Case count as of July 15, 2021 / Nombre de cas le 15 juillet 2021
Area / Région	Case count / Nombre de cas	Change from yesterday / Changement par rapport à hier	Deaths / Décès	Change from yesterday / Changement par rapport à hier
Canada*	1 421 831	+  384	26 458	+  8
Ontario**	547 705	+  143	9 275	+  10

 

 

Update:

• Ontario Easing Restrictions in Congregate Care Settings - As Ontario moves to Step Three of its Roadmap to Reopen on Friday, July 16, 2021, the province is easing COVID-19-related restrictions in congregate care settings such as residences for adults with developmental disabilities, residences for children in care or with special needs, along with women’s shelters so residents can spend more time with family and friends.

• The COVID-19 Safety Guidelines for: Overnight Camps has been updated and is here.
• The COVID-19 Safety Guidelines for: Day Camps has been updated and is here.
• The Ministry of Long-term Care has updated the COVID-19 Screening Tool for Long-term Care Homes and Retirement Homes document. Version 5 is effective immediately.

 

Staying in touch        

Keeping in touch remains important as we face the pandemic and other challenges in Ontario, in Canada and elsewhere – in particular, in Africa and Latin America – two of the continents most affected by COVID-19 and its variants – delta and lambda. Feeling that we are part of a community and that we have each other’s backs helps us get through these challenges, becoming better people in the process. We are eager to hear how we, at RNAO, can best support you. Send us your questions, comments, and challenges. Recommend ideas for articles and webinars. Write to me at dgrinspun@rnao.ca and copy my executive assistant, Peta-Gay (PG) Batten at pgbatten@rnao.ca. RNAO’s Board of Directors and our entire staff want you to know: WE ARE HERE FOR YOU!

Thank you for being there for your community – everywhere and in all roles! Together, in solidarity, we are strong and resilient. In Canada we see hope at the end of this long pandemic tunnel. Please keep encouraging your colleagues, their loved ones and your communities to be fully vaccinated. We must not forget, however, about our privilege. Canada has purchased more vaccines than what it needs, while 9 out 10 countries have almost nothing. Like in other challenges we face, such as racism, Islamophobia, and other forms of discrimination, we are not safe until everyone is safe. Vaccines for all – literally for all, across the world – must guide policy in the upcoming 12 months. Let’s learn from the 17-month pandemic and take real action to build a better world.

To everyone – THANK YOU! Please take care of yourself and know that RNAO always stands by you!

Here’s one constant throughout the pandemic. The silver lining of COVID-19 has been to come together and work as one people for the good of all. Let’s join efforts to demand political leaders bring about #Vaccines4All!

Doris Grinspun, RN,MSN, PhD, LLD(hon), Dr(hc), FAAN, FCAN, O.ONT
Chief Executive Officer, RNAO

 

RECENT BLOG ITEMS:

10 July - A Detailed Study of Patients with Long-Haul COVID – go here.

10 July - Prolonged brain dysfunction in COVID-19 survivors – go here.

3 July - RNAO’s continuing media profile: The June report – go here.

3 July - RNAO celebrates virtual 96th Annual General Meeting – go here.

26 June - Global herd immunity out of reach because of inequitable vaccine distribution – go here.

26 June - Canada is virtue signalling while waffling on global access to COVID-19 vaccines – go here.

20 June - Building your Twitter presence: Here are tips from RNAO – go here.

20 June - Let’s flatten the infodemic curve – go here.

12 June - RNAO statement on the terrorist attack in London, Ontario – go here.

12 June - Reducing the time interval for second dose after first AstraZeneca dose – go here.

12 June - AstraZeneca second dose: Should I get the same vaccine or Mrna? – go here.

5 June - RNAO’s continuing media profile: The May report – go here.

5 June - RNAO supports Premier Ford's announcement on schools as risk is too high – go here.

29 May - Vaccination passport apps could help society reopen – go here.

29 May - Email updates highlight best new evidence about COVID-19 – go here.

23 May – NPs speak about LTC during the COVID-19 Pandemic – go here.

23 May – Three surveys on the impact of COVID-19 on Canadian nurses – go here.

23 May – Exemption of nurses and other health-care workers from Bill 124 – go here.

23 May – RNAO’s statement on the government’s phased-in re-opening plan – go here.

23 May – Remembering Charlotte Noesgaard (1948-2021) – go here.

15 May - Nursing Now Ontario Awards Ceremony – go here.

15 May - Vaccine passports – reason for hope or cause for concern? – go here.

15 May - Government responds to RNAO’s call for increased enrollment in nursing education – go here.

15 May - Second dose vaccination for high-risk healthcare workers in response to RNAO’s call – go here.

8 May - Nurses must be fully vaccinated immediately, RNAO demands – go here.

8 May - A bill to support individuals with assistive devices for mental health – go here.

8 May - Action alert: Ensure global vaccine access, prime minister! – go here.

1 May - RNAO statement on the passing of RN Lorraine Gouveia – go here.

1 May - RNAO’s continuing media profile: The April report – go here.

1 May – RNAO response to Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission report – go here.

We have posted earlier ones in my blog here. I invite you to look.