It will take nearly a week to roll out Ontario’s emergency order for curbing COVID-19 deaths in seniors homes. Doctors say that’s risky
By Kenyon Wallace
NIA Director of Health Policy Research, Dr. Samir Sinha, said he assumed when the government brought in the emergency order that it would be effective immediately. “Every day is crucial. We’re losing lives every single day,” he said, noting that British Columbia, which saw the first case of community transmission in Canada in early March, restricted long-term-care workers to one facility two weeks ago. That province has since made personal support workers provincial employees, thereby allowing them to collect full-time wages while working at one long-term-care home. Such a move has provided stability in a profession characterized by low pay and a lack of benefits, necessitating many personal support workers to work at multiple facilities to make ends meet, Sinha said.