THUNDER BAY - People in Northwestern Ontario say the provincial government was not prepared to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, especially when it came to health care workers and long-term care residents.
Results of a poll conducted earlier this month for CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE) and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario, were released on Wednesday.
The poll asked more than 2,000 people residing in both Kenora and Thunder Bay to rate how the province has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We were looking at public responses to the performance of the provincial government around the pandemic,” said Michael Hurley, president of Ontario Council of Hospital Unions with CUPE. “We appreciate that for people in Northern Ontario, you have not yet perhaps had the same level of exposure to COVID-19 as people in Southern Ontario have.”
The questions focused primarily on the healthcare system and long-term care.
According to the poll, 57 per cent of respondents said long-term care residents infected with COVID-19 should be moved to hospitals, with 20 per cent saying no, and 23 per cent responding with don’t know.
With the province seeing outbreaks in 135 long-term care homes, more than 1,700 cases among residents, and 1,587 deaths, Hurley said the province has failed seniors.
“I know it’s extremely topical today because of the Canadian Army report on conditions in long-term care in Ontario,” Hurley said. “You may be surprised to know that in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea, not a single long-term resident died from COVID.”
“There are a couple of reasons for that. It’s important that in those jurisdictions, they chose to treat the coronavirus as the SARS virus. It is in the same family. They chose to take precautions that the virus can be transmitted by air.”
There are still studies being conducted on whether or not COVID-19 is transmitted by air, but Hurley said the other reason these countries have not seen the same devastation in long-term care like Ontario has is because residents who tested positive were transported to hospital for treatment.
“Almost no one has gone from long-term care to hospitals and we have a very high death rate,” Hurley said. “We have to ask ourselves why almost no one in long-term care was transported to hospital.”
When asked if the province was adequately prepared to handle a pandemic, 54 per cent of respondents said no, 23 per cent saying yes, and 23 per cent responding with don’t know.
According to the poll, 79 per cent of respondents said the province needs to toughen standards to protect healthcare workers, with nine per cent saying no, and 11 per cent responding don’t know.
“The truth is we have a very high level of health care infections in Ontario,” Hurley said. “The people that they are caring for are often times in no condition to withstand COVID-19. A significant number of people who get this virus don’t exhibit symptoms but do spread the disease.”
According to CUPE, nearly 4,500 healthcare workers have been infected with COVID-19 and 12 have died.
“We have one of the highest rates of health care worker infection,” Hurley said. “Unless we can get a handle on these things, it’s very difficult to see how we come out of this in these congregate settings especially.”
The poll also found a large majority of respondents calling for the provincial government to ramp up testing, with 85 per cent saying testing needs to be increased, seven per cent saying no, and eight per cent responding with don’t know.
Of those responding, 88 per cent also agreed that all hospital patients and staff should be tested, with six per cent saying no, and six per cent responding with don’t know.
According to Hurley, the province needs to change its approach to COVID-19 and treat it as though it is transmitted by air, similar to SARS.
“When it has cases in long-term care or other congregate living settings, to remove the patients to hospital where they can be cared for at a much higher level,” he said.
“We are asking the Ontario government to provide health care staff with the equipment they would need to deal with an airborne virus, like the N95 mask.”
Polls were also conducted in other regions of Ontario and Hurley said the numbers are even stronger in Northeastern Ontario, Central Ontario, and Southern Ontario, which have been hit harder by the COVID-19 pandemic.
But even though Northwestern Ontario has not seen surges in cases like other parts of the province, Hurley does not believe parts of the northern economy should be opened up any sooner.
“I think we would be taking the position that opening up Ontario is premature in any region,” he said. “We have only had a small percentage of the population actually contract COVID at this point and that means all the rest of us are theoretically vulnerable. In the absence of a vaccine, opening up the province we believe would be putting people at risk.”
