RNAO Updates

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.

With only one month left until schools reopen in Ontario, the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) is pleased the provincial government’s plan includes mandatory indoor masking for students in grades one through 12 and improving ventilation systems. These measures meet some of RNAO’s long-standing recommendations to Premier Ford, including those in the association’s July 28 open letter. “The measures are essential to minimize the impact of a fourth wave of COVID-19 as Ontario opens school doors to students and staff,” says RNAO CEO Dr. Doris Grinspun.

I am absolutely exhausted with this relentless pandemic. You are too. But, as much as we don’t like it, we must confront the fourth wave. Daily case numbers in Ontario are increasing (218 today) with a reproduction value that remains above 1. The fourth wave of the pandemic driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant is here. RNAO has been listening to the experts and warning about this for weeks.

One of the controversial recommendations issued by the ST – not supported by RNAO – is its position on masking, physical distancing and cohorting, which the ST refers to as “temporary measures” to be implemented at the health unit level according to the conditions present. The conditions present refer to the COVID-19 disease burden that in their view must be taken into consideration, such as student age, grade, and vaccination status. Social media posts suggested the ST report called for an end to masks and physical distancing at schools. When reading the report it becomes clear that is a misrepresentation, and the ST position is more nuanced than that. Nonetheless, RNAO strongly disagrees with any discussion of ditching the masks or any nuanced approach at this time.

“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.”

The government announced today an earlier reopening of the province to step 3. The news did not come as a surprise given the successful vaccination rollout and decreased hospitalization rates. In several media interviews I expressed that although the five day advanced reopening is not a major concern, the lack of capacity restrictions in indoor activities is. For example, the requirement for a two meter distance between tables at a restaurant – without percentage limit of patrons – will be difficult to monitor and enforce. In the face of a dominating Delta variant and an even more aggressive Lambda variant (originating in Peru) in our doorsteps, having unvaccinated persons in large tables drinking and laughing could quickly lead to a fourth wave.

With more than 800 registered nurses (RN), nurse practitioners (NP), nursing students, politicians and guests from all over Ontario and beyond joining us virtually, RNAO celebrated almost a century of success in health care and nursing at our 96th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on June 24-26.

This week we consider the shocking status of vaccine inequity from a global perspective. World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said recently that the world is at risk of 'vaccine apartheid'. The WHO chief highlighted that at least 63 million doses of vaccines have been shipped to 124 countries and economies, but they represent just 0.5 per cent of the combined population of those nations. He also noted that the basic problem of vaccine inequity was a lack of sharing by the wealthy countries that have accumulated most of the vaccine supplies.

Ontario is doing very well with vaccination rollout, but we cannot bring our guard down. Epidemiologist David Fisman reports that Ontario has an R for the Delta variant firmly above 1 again, even as the R for earlier variants of concern falls away, and the expected decline in cases has ceased. In short, the Delta variant continues to spread and we urge the premier not to advance the reopening to Step 2 before the originally scheduled date.

COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the whole community – including nurses and other health professionals – in Ontario, Canada and internationally. We thank RNs, RPN/LPNs, and NPs – RNAO members and non-members – who have already responded to this international survey. If you have not yet done so, please consider the impact it will have. The aim of this survey is to find out how nurses are feeling about their work, and how they have been impacted by COVID-19, across a comparison of 150 countries. It will allow RNAO and the international community to learn what we have in common, and what is different, in terms of nurses’ wellbeing and the crisis in nursing human resources.