Some nurses lack proper PPE amid Omicron COVID-19 surge, union says

Regional unions across Canada report that nurses who have requested fit-tested respirators still can't get them in some cases, despite the Omicron variant surging in the country.

When news of the first cases of COVID-19 began cropping up in Canada in early 2020, Linda Silas was one of the first to ring alarm bells about the lack of proper personal protective equipment for health workers.

While early indications showed the virus was spread by droplets that settled on surfaces, Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses, urged health authorities to learn from the SARS outbreak of 2003 and take the highest level of precaution.

Now she knows she was right – the virus is airborne – but she is still desperately calling for more protective equipment for nurses two years later.

Regional unions across the country report that nurses who have requested fit-tested respirators still can’t get them in some cases, despite the Omicron variant being far more transmissible than previous variants.

The shortage of healthy nurses to address the massive wave of the Omicron variant has meant hospitals and other health institutions have deployed nurses with confirmed cases of COVID-19, and still some are not offered appropriate masks, she said.

“These vulnerable patients might have a COVID positive staff treating them, and without the proper PPE it’s plain dangerous,” she said.

Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, describes the spread of COVID-19 as a cloud of smoke coming from someone’s mouth and nose. She and other medical officers have suggested the public use more effective masks to protect themselves.

Silas said often in places such as vaccine clinics, members of the public seem better outfitted with the proper protective equipment than the health workers.