The president of the Registered Nurses’ Union of Newfoundland and Labrador says most health care workers don’t feel prepared should the novel Coronavirus appear in the province.
Debbie Forward says only 35 per cent of workers she spoke with feel confident they can take on COVID-19.
In her opinion the Public Health Agency of Canada is not going far enough in terms of guidelines. They claim the virus is not transmitted by air, but by contact or droplet, which Forward says isn’t certain at this time.
She says they learned a lot from SARS in 2003 which illustrated how quickly the disease can spread in hospitals. During the outbreak health care workers weren’t using the N95 respirator mask which creates a seal around the face.
Forward says as it stands now, they are using a basic mask which is not going far enough.
She says there isn’t a 100 per cent certainty that this virus is not transmitted by air, until they are 100 per cent certain, we should err on the side of caution and put the maximum safety standards in place
Forward says she is pressing the government to go with the precautionary measure which is the N95 respirator mask for maximum protection.
She says she asked for the nurses’ union to be involved, which means they will now participate in weekly teleconferences with health officials.