Faced with the meteoric rise in cases, the FSSS-CSN calls for the intervention of the Committee on Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNEEST) so that all workers in the health sector, social services and educational daycare services are equipped with N-95 type masks, that pregnant women continue to be on preventive withdrawal and that staff movements are avoided.
The CIUSS du Center-Sud de l’Île-de-Montréal got ahead of the Legault government and decided on its own to recommend the wearing of the N95 mask at all times in emergencies and in hot areas, when providing care. to a COVID-19 patient and in outbreak units.
“We also ask managers to keep a watch on the consumption of three masks per employee per shift”, we can read.
The internal memo emphasizes that the CNEEST also recommends wearing the N95 “during the care of users who have had close contact with COVID-19 in the last 14 days and during the care of a symptomatic user while awaiting the result of his test”.
Faced with the meteoric rise in cases, the FSSS-CSN generally calls for the intervention of the Committee on Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNEEST) so that all workers in the health, social services and educational daycare services are equipped with N95 type respiratory masks, that all pregnant women are on preventive withdrawal and that staff movements are avoided.
The organization demands that CNEEST and the government take into account “the airborne transmission of COVID-19 and the uncertainty related to the Omicron variant”.
Moreover, the CSN wants work teams to be stabilized and staff movements to be avoided.
We expect movement very quickly from the ministry [de la Santé et des Services sociaux], which must not compromise with the health of the personnel and ensure the application of the precautionary principle.
Réjean Leclerc, President of the FSSS-CSN, by press release.
In an interview, Mr. Leclerc said he was very disappointed that the government was waiting for the opinion of the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) to rule on these issues. The government may well seek the opinion of the INSPQ, but, recalls Mr. Leclerc, when it comes to the health of employees at work, it is the Committee on Standards, Equity, occupational health and safety (CNEEST) which [compétence] “.
Mr. Leclerc does not hide that he has reservations about the opinions of the INSPQ since he underestimated, in his opinion, the risk of contagion by aerosols during previous waves.
He also believes that the risks for caregivers should be assessed by areas (hot, lukewarm or cold) rather than by type of care provided.
At the Ministry of Health and Social Services, it is indicated that an opinion on protective equipment for caregivers “has been requested from the INSPQ. We are waiting, then public health experts will be able to consult it and issue recommendations ”.
Cases of establishments (or doctors) who have decided to use more protective equipment on their own have been reported to Press and to other media, although their top management has not recommended it yet.
The CSN also expressed “its deep concerns” regarding the possible recall to work of infected people, as well as the current difficulties in tracing and screening cases.
“Calling people infected with COVID-19 to work is playing with fire. We saw what it gave during the first waves. This endangers not only the members of the work teams, but also the population, ”said Mr. Leclerc.
As for pregnant women, the CSN is calling for their preventive withdrawal. Even in a cold zone, it is too dangerous, insists Mr. Leclerc. “We don’t want to take any risks, especially since a baby barely two months old has died [de la COVID-19, la semaine dernière] “.
“The status quo would be a mistake”
In an interview, the Dr Quoc Nguyen, geriatrician at the CHUM, also believes that an update of the instructions concerning personal protective equipment must be done extremely quickly so that the nursing staff of emergencies and CHSLDs wear either N95 (admittedly uncomfortable, said- il), KN95 or KF94. “The Omicron variant is much more contagious, we see it in Quebec as we see it in Europe. The status quo would be a mistake, ”he said.
“We must not waste time. We must be more careful than not enough, especially as we fear staff shortages. ”
The Dr Nguyen adds that he does not know the exact state of the stocks of personal protective equipment, but that to his knowledge, there does not seem to be a shortage of it.