The Premier assures Newfoundlanders and Labradorians that sending some medical personnel to Ontario will not impact health care capacity in this province.
Ontario is clocking over 4,000 new cases a day as it battles a third—and most serious yet—wave of COVID-19. It has gone back to full lockdown in an effort to curb the spread of infection.
Andrew Furey, speaking on the VOCM Morning Show, said all four regional health authorities are taking a look at their staffing in an effort to help Ontario. They expect to finalize a plan within a couple of days.
He says the NLMA and Registered Nurses Union have reached out and been supportive. Furey hopes to have something more definitive in the next 24-48 hours and then they get the logistics figured out on how to get these people on the ground and helping.
Dr. Allison Furey is among those who volunteered to head to Ontario. Premier Furey says his wife has worked in COVID screening and has traveled the world to share her medical expertise—referring to her time with Team Broken Earth.
The Canadian Medical Association has asked other provinces to consider reallocating some of their vaccine to Ontario, but Premier Furey doesn’t think that would do much good. He uses the analogy that Ontario is in the midst of a forest fire and needs firefighters, not fire prevention.
