RNAO issued the following media release in response to the Ontario government’s reopening plan.

At a time when long-term care (LTC) residents are still being infected and dying from COVID-19 because of unvaccinated health-care workers, the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) says the provincial government's announcement Friday should have been about mandatory vaccination for all health-care workers. Instead, it was about raising capacity limits for sporting events.

Spain has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic and is experiencing a fifth wave of COVID-19. The opening of the new school year in September 2021 arrives in Spain, however, with more confidence than in many other countries, including Canada. This confidence arises from their positive experience during the past year. Substantial parts of this article are adapted from an August 4, 2021 article in The Conversation by Fernando Trujillo Sáez; Jonatan Castaño Muñoz; Riina Vuorikari, and Romina Cachia, entitled Portrait of the school experience in Spain during more than a year of pandemic (in Spanish).

RNAO welcomes the news that the Ontario government will mandate vaccines for hospital, long-term care (LTC) and homecare workers, give booster shots to the vulnerable, and halt further reopening. RNAO calls for further urgent action and urges the premier, minister of health, other cabinet ministers, and Ontario’s chief medical officer of health to move quickly and save lives.

We are in the midst of a fourth wave driven by the Delta variant. This July 5 article from Michael Toole, Professor of International Health at the Burnet Institute in Australia, summarizes what we know about this variant.

Ontarians have received about 900,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, mostly as a first dose. These Ontarians now have the choice of getting a second dose of the AstraZeneca or an mRNA vaccine. The following article, addressing the question of which one they should choose, is from Alexander Wong, an associate professor of infectious diseases at the University of Saskatchewan.

RNAO continues to be active in the media to keep nurses, other health providers and the public informed of our views and advise during these challenging times. This month, we spoke out on many important issues, including long-term care (LTC), vaccinations, nurse burnout and the measures required to bring an end to the pandemic.

RNAO is keenly aware of the importance of schools for the mental, social and physical health of children, as well as for their academic development. The pandemic has been very hard for everyone and in particular for young students and their parents. However, the risk of reopening schools for the remaining three weeks of the academic year is too high.