Health and Safety Archives - Ontario Council of Hospital Unions

FAQs on Protecting Yourself from COVID-19 Aerosol Transmission

Oct 9, 2020

A complete FAQ guide on COVID-19 aerosol transmission.

Newsletter – October 6

Oct 6, 2020

Unions win increased access to N-95 masks

Health care unions welcome significantly improved COVID-19 protections for 400,000 health care workers

Oct 5, 2020

Today the Chief Medical Officer of Health issued Directive #5, which provides clear guidance that N-95 or superior protection masks, face shields and other equipment are to be provided to health care staff working on the front line in long-term care facilities or hospitals dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks, among other improvements.

CDC revises coronavirus guidance to acknowledge that it spreads through airborne transmission

Oct 5, 2020

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its guidance on the coronavirus Monday, acknowledging that it can sometimes spread through airborne particles that can “linger in the air for minutes to hours” and among people who are more than six feet apart.

Low risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission by fomites in real-life conditions

Oct 2, 2020

We read with interest the Comment by Emanuel Goldman1 highlighting experiments done under controlled laboratory conditions that suggest persistence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on inanimate...

Heath-care workers lacking PPE suffer from more anxiety and depression

Oct 1, 2020

Maximizing efforts to enable the health-care workforce to remain free of COVID-19 infection, and stay in good physical and mental health, is essential to the response and management of COVID-19.

Healthcare workers facing violence, PPE shortages, burn-out

Oct 1, 2020

It’s not enough to call them “heroes”, we need to listen to their voices – and act

The Association between the Perceived Adequacy of Workplace Infection Control Procedures and Personal Protective Equipment with Mental Health Symptoms

Sep 28, 2020

A Cross-sectional Survey of Canadian Health-care Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Why did so few healthcare workers in China get COVID-19 infection

Aug 20, 2020

First, universal mask wearing of HCWs in healthcare settings was implemented at the early stage of the pandemic in China. In the middle of January, the National Health Commission of China, an equivalent of Ministry of...

Relative contributions of transmission routes for COVID-19 among healthcare personnel providing patient care

Jul 27, 2020

This analysis has demonstrated that inhalation exposure is likely to contribute meaningfully to the risk of COVID-19 among HCP providing care to infectious patients, motivating the use of respirators to prevent occupationally acquired infection.

Particle sizes of infectious aerosols: implications for infection control

Jul 27, 2020

This Viewpoint suggests that infection control guidelines should be re-evaluated to account for the predominance of small particles within infectious aerosols.