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October 22, 2020 - No. 72
Government Dereliction of Duty
Reopening Schools and Restarting
the Economy Need Not Be a
Disaster for Society
- Steve Rutchinski -
 
• Expert Opinion on How
to Protect Against COVID-19 Transmission in
Schools
Health Care
Workers Step Up Their Fight for Their Rights
• Quebec Workers Block
Bridges to Pressure Government to Negotiate
Report on
Tragedy in Herron Long-Term Care Home in
Dorval, Quebec
• An Untenable Status
Quo
- Pierre Soublière
Government Dereliction of Duty
- Steve Rutchinski -
It can be said beyond a shadow of a doubt that
the resumption of
school and restart of the economy did not have
to be the disaster for
society that is currently unfolding. Yet, with
the start of the new
school year and restart of the economy, Canada
is experiencing a surge
in infections, outbreaks, hospitalizations and
even deaths. The
"option" before us was never unsafe resumption
of classes in order to
restart the economy or going back to total
lockdown! It does not have
to be this way! There are practical preventative
measures that can and
must be taken for as long as the pandemic is
with us, which may be for
some time to come.
 Back in May,
during the first wave, The Marxist-Leninist
Weekly published an article entitled:
"Why Should the Pandemic Shut Down the Economy?"
[1]
It stated: "The biggest problem remains the one
of who sets the
agenda for the country and decides what policies
should be adopted. The
people are simply on the receiving end of
whatever is decided and have
no say in setting their living and working
conditions or how they can
contribute to the well-being of all." That is
all the more true today.
The agenda is set by the rich, the global
oligarchs that own and
control our economy. The measures that must be
taken to ensure a safe
start-up of the economy, including the reopening
of schools, which is
critical, are considered by the oligarchs to be
an impediment to their
profit making.
As a result, the new school year began and the
economy was restarted
with utter disregard for the conclusions science
has drawn for
preventing the spread of COVID-19 infection.
This is not rocket
science: physical distancing, hand hygiene,
creating social bubbles to limit
interactions, masking, avoidance of enclosed
spaces for prolonged
periods of
time, etc.
As well, teachers, education workers, frontline
health care providers,
public transit workers and workers in all
sectors of the economy are
blocked from participating in setting the agenda
for society. The many
proposals they have brought forward have been
based on scientific
evidence but are ignored.
For example, had the recommendations of
teachers and education
workers to limit class size, cohort students,
ensure adequate
ventilation in all enclosed spaces, and ensure
adequate distancing in
school bus transportation, been followed
this would certainly have
slowed the surge of the second wave.
 Yet,
in every province the governing authorities,
regardless of which cartel
party forms the government, started up schools
without adequate
preparation or safety measures. They did so with
utter disregard for
their own public health advisories (on physical
distancing and
restricted social bubbles, for example) and
against the advice of the medical
and
science experts. Workers' Forum is
reprinting excerpts from the views of one such
expert below.
With appropriate measures, schools can be both
powerful institutions
for socializing youth of all ages to be a force
for safe conduct during
the pandemic and essential institutions for a
modern economy. However,
without taking appropriate action, schools
expose teachers, students
and society as a whole to tremendous risk and
super-spreader
events.
The
irrationality we are experiencing begs the question: Who Decides? This
irrationality is calling for substantive changes based on democratic
renewal. The decision-making power must be vested in the people in a
manner that makes sure those concerned with the decisions taken, no
matter what they are, can make informed choices and take responsibility
for their consequences. At this time, the only choice for
working people is to keep fighting for rational measures to deal with
the pandemic. As they do, the refusal of the ruling circles to
acknowledge the right that belongs to everyone to participate in
deciding what is to be done will surely strengthen the consciousness
and conviction that workers must themselves become the decision-makers.
To make this so, how to renew the political process to end all its
anti-democratic tendencies which give rise to party governments which
pay the rich is the crucial problem which must be taken up for
solution.
Note
1. "Why
Should the Pandemic Shut Down the Economy, "
TML Weekly, May 16, 2020.
Dr. David Fisman is a world renowned
epidemiologist and expert on
COVID-19 transmission. His expert opinion was
included in the
application to the Ontario Labour Relations
Board (OLRB) by the four
teachers' and education workers' unions seeking
a province-wide remedy
to the unsafe conditions under which schools
have resumed. The OLRB
rejected the application for "lack of
jurisdiction," thus his opinion
was never considered. Workers' Forum is reproducing excerpts from Dr. Fisman's expert opinion below.
Credentials of Expert Witness
Dr. David Fisman: Tenured Professor at the
Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the
University of Toronto; former
Head of the Division of Epidemiology, DLSPH;
incoming head of Pandemic
Readiness stream at the new University of
Toronto Institute for
Pandemics; Associate Medical Officer of Health
with the City of
Hamilton 2001-2003; author of over 200
publications including "15 papers related
to the epidemiology of COVID-19" since February
2020; funded by the
Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR)
for COVID-19 study;
recently chaired an international symposium on
COVID-19 transmission;
and invited speaker at recent (August 4, 2020)
World Health
Organization symposium on COVID-19 transmission;
and "a member of
Ontario's Modelling Table and Science Table,
both of which advise the
Ontario Provincial Government on COVID-19."
How COVID-19 Is Spread
12. "... early in the pandemic, fomite
transmissions (i.e. infection
that results from physical contact with a
contaminated object) was
believed to be an important route. ... However,
evidence now shows that
fomites are a far less significant driver of
COVID-19 [than] originally thought."
13. "...aerosols are increasingly recognized as
an important mode of
transmission of COVID-19 ... This is likely to
explain the propensity
of COVID-19 to cause large clusters in 'closed,
close, crowded'
settings including long-term care facilities,
food processing plants
and homeless shelters."
15. "...Restaurants, bars and other indoor
gathering places such as
churches have featured prominently in the
history of COVID-19
superspreader events."
16. "The fact that large outdoor gatherings ...
have not appeared to
have driven the spread of COVID is further
evidence of the important
role aerosols play."
17. "Aerosol transmission may be most likely
during the pre-symptomatic phase of
infection..."
18. "Asymptomatic infection appears common....
Children aged <10
were three times more likely to be asymptomatic
than others."
19. "... children aged 10 and over are as
likely as adults to be infected by COVID-19..."
21. "...viral loads in children are similar to,
and perhaps higher, than viral loads in adults."
24. "... misconceptions about children and
COVID-19 have been driven
by the increased likelihood of asymptomatic
infection in children
(three-fold increased likelihood in Ontario
data) ...
Overview of Public Health Measures to Control
the Spread of COVID-19
32. "...best practices globally show that it is
possible to reduce
COVID-19 transmission to low levels using a
combination of distancing,
masking, reduced gathering sizes, ventilation
and other
non-pharmaceutical measures."
36. "Masking is likely most effective as a means
of source control:
... masks reduce the risk of both short and
long-distance airborne COVID-19 transmission.
...
Because it appears that individuals are most
infective prior to the
onset of symptoms, and many infective people are
completely
asymptomatic, it is important that masking be
done on a universal basis
in all
indoor locations."
41. "...it has been notable in July and August
2020 that British Columbia
has had a rising effective reproduction
number... while Ontario and
Quebec have gone through a period of low
[reproduction numbers]
following mask mandates, notwithstanding
substantial economic opening
in those provinces. ... the relative risk
reduction associated with
masking orders in Ontario has likely been on the
order of 38 per cent in the
province as a whole, higher in the Greater
Toronto Area ...
42. "... there is no reason to anticipate
harms, physical or psychological, from mask
wearing in children ..."
43. "...poorly ventilated indoor spaces,
crowded places and close
contact increase the likelihood that these
aerosols infect secondary
cases. ... the use of masks is one intervention
that helps. ... Another
mechanism is increased ventilation ... that is
to say removing air
inside an enclosed space and replacing it with
air from outdoors ..."
45. "Distancing reduces the likelihood of
transmission ... distancing is most effective at
distances greater than 1.5 meters
46. "... none of these are substitutes for each
other. Rather they
must all be used simultaneously and consistently
in order to
effectively reduce the reproduction rate of
COVID-19."
Schools and COVID-19
57. "My opinion that unsafe reopening of
schools is likely to result
in surges in disease that will cause illness and
deaths to rise in the
community. ..."
58. "It is my opinion that a strong focus on
reduced class sizes, improved school ventilation
and mask use would
help reduce school related surges in COVID-19
activity in Canada this
fall.
The Guide to Reopening Ontario's Schools
59. "I have reviewed the Guide to Reopening
Ontario's Schools (the
Guide). ... The guide does not
contain sufficient measures to
adequately protect students, teachers and other
adults working in
schools, or the public more broadly."
60. "... there are at
least five major failings in the Guide: the
failure to require
universal indoor masking at all age levels; the
failure to require
enhanced ventilation; failing to set out minimum
standards for physical
distancing; not requiring reduction in class
sizes outside of
designated secondary school boards; and serious
flaws in its approach
to cohorting.
64. "Ventilation of indoor spaces is not
addressed by the Guide ...
Due to the fact that classrooms are closed,
close and crowded spaces
... adequate ventilation is key to reducing the
risk of infection."
69. "... the Guide
does not set out any minimum rules for
distancing.
71. "...the Guide
does not require schools to reduce class sizes
..."
 72.
"Reducing class sizes is one of the most
effective tools in lowering
the risk ... the SickKids Updated Guidance
for School Reopening states
that "smaller class sizes should be a priority
strategy" in reopening
of schools. Reducing class sizes produces four
distinct forms of
protection simultaneously
- ... reduces the probability that any member
of a class is infected
- ... reduces the number of secondary cases
that could result from a primary case
- ... allows for greater distancing
- ... reduces the overall production of finer
aerosols within a fixed indoor space ...
78. "In my opinion, the total absence of class
size limits in most
classrooms is an unreasonable approach to school
reopening from a
public health perspective. ... class sizes in
the 20s produce
significantly higher predicated infection rates
than classes half that
size."
82. "Cohorting students to a single class,
combined with lower class
sizes, universal masking, distancing of at least
1.5 meters and adequate
ventilation rates constitutes an effective means
to ensure that schools
do not become drivers of pandemic spread of
COVID-19."
84. "...The Guide
states that specialized teachers ... will still
move from classroom to classroom to provide
instruction. This increases
the risk of infection to both the teacher, and
to the students. We have
already experienced a clear example of how this
type of movement
between cohorts can drive the pandemic in
Ontario: the case of
long-term
care homes.
86. At the high school level, schools are
directed ... to keep
students to approximately 100 direct and
indirect contacts per day and
limiting them to two class cohorts. ... Public
health guidance directs
individuals to maintain social circles of 10,
yet the Guide
uses
contacts ten times that size as a goal.
88. ".... The other strategies that the Guide calls
for [hand
hygiene, self-screening, goggles and face
shields -- WF Ed. note.] are
not adequate substitutes for requiring universal
masking, implementing
physical distancing of 1.5 or more metres,
reducing class sizes,
requiring adequate ventilation and addressing
the shortcomings of the
Guide's
cohort
rules."
Health Care Workers Step Up
Their Fight for Their Rights
Jacques Cartier Bridge, Montreal, October 19,
2020
On
Monday morning, October 19, members of the
Interprofessional Health
Care Federation of Quebec (FIQ) blocked traffic
on the Jacques Cartier
Bridge in Montreal and on the Quebec Bridge
between Sainte-Foy and Lévis for about an hour.
They organized these demonstrations as a means
of informing everyone of
their situation. These health care professionals
need their negotiations with the Quebec
government unblocked and they
need government to respect and agree to their
demands for immediate and
serious improvements in their wages and working
conditions. They are
calling for a publicly televised debate with the
Minister of Health.
 "Both
literally and figuratively, we are once again
sending a distress signal
to the Legault government. Over the past few
days, we have been clear:
the government will see care professionals where
it is not used to
seeing them. We no longer have any other choice.
For too long, and in
every forum, we have been repeating that burnout
is taking
its toll on health care professionals and
pushing them towards illness,
retirement or resignation. We have been at the
bargaining table for
months and our concrete proposals continue to be
ignored. If our words
are not being effective, our actions will have
to be. Today, we want
all of Quebec to know that we have had enough,
that our working
conditions must change," said Nancy Bédard, FIQ
President.
The FIQ has launched a public call to the
Minister of Health and
Social Services, Christian Dubé, to hold an open
debate with the
federation, broadcast by the media so everyone
can see and hear, on the
state of working conditions for healthcare
professionals.
"How is it that we are still at the stage of
convincing the
government of the merits of our demands? I
invite Mr. Dubé,
through the medium of his choice, to engage in a
frank discussion that
will allow the public to judge for itself on the
issue of overwork,
mandatory overtime and the reorganization of
full-time work schedules.
It is now time
for Minister Dubé's words to be translated into
concrete
action," said the FIQ President.
The federation has announced that it will take
further action in the
coming weeks to make its voice heard by
everyone. On October 24 and 25,
FIQ members will refuse mandatory overtime
(MO).Workers will work their
regular shift and will work overtime on a
voluntary basis but will
refuse MO.
An Overview of FIQ's Demands
 Among the main
demands of the federation are the following:
- A reasonable and safe workload.
- Safe healthcare professional-to-patient
ratios.
- Stabilization of the work teams.
- Elimination of the use of mandatory overtime
as a management tool.
- Make full time positions more attractive. [by
eliminating the imposition of mandatory
overtime and other abuses - WF Ed. Note.]
- Guaranteed time off on negotiated statutory
holidays.
- Workers' input in setting schedules.
In terms of wages, FIQ is demanding a wage
increase of 12.4 per cent over three
years, of which 7.4 per cent is a wage catch-up
to compensate for the gap that
has widened between health care workers and
other public sector workers
such as those at Hydro-Québec or universities.
The Quebec
government is sticking to a provocative "offer"
of a 5 per cent increase
over three years, essentially no increase once
inflation is taken into
account. This wage offer has remained the same
since May.
Report on Tragedy in Herron
Long-Term Care Home in Dorval, Quebec
- Pierre Soublière -
The
"Investigative report on the events in the
context of the COVID-19
pandemic in the Herron long -term care home" was
mandated by the Quebec
government following the deaths, between March
28 and April 10, of 31
seniors, residents of the Herron long-term care
home. The author of the
report goes back to 2017 to establish what
factors in the course of these years could have
led to such a tragedy.
Here are some of the highlights of the report
which was made
public on September 23.
Various organizations had observed and noted a
number of major
problems as of 2017 in the care given at the
Herron home. Among the organizations:
the Quebec Certification Board, the Ministry of
Health and Social
Services, the Public Protector, the Quebec Order
of Assistant Nurses,
and the Quebec Order of Nurses. What were the
main concerns
raised by all of them? They were:
- inadequate infection control measures;
- high staff/resident ratio;
- high staff turnover, estimated at more than
20 per cent annually;
- inadequate staff training regarding
psychological and behavioural symptoms of
dementia.
The author of the report observes that, like
many long-term care
homes in Quebec, the Herron private home
operated in a permanent state
of shortage of personnel. He states: "This staff
shortage meant many cases
of absenteeism, of high nurse/resident ratios.
Such situations led to
extra workload for the staff in the home,
exhaustion and
departures."
At the organizational level, at the time of the
pandemic outbreak,
there was a lack of technical supplies such as
linen, incontinence
pads and suitable basic medical equipment such
as blood pressure
monitoring devices and thermometers.
On April 8, with the emergency intervention led
by the University Integrated Centre of
Health and Social Services of the
West Island of Montreal (CIUSSS ODIM), here are
some of the numerous aspects of the
care provided:
- sufficient personal protective equipment;
- the presence of specialized physicians in
geriatrics and internal medicine;
- a team of pharmacists to ensure the safe
handling of medications;
- the expertise of the CIUSSS ODIM team in
hygiene and cleanliness, in particular for
proper disinfection procedures;
- a team of professionals to treat malnutrition
and dehydration among residents;
- work with the food service to ensure proper
food texture, temperature and quality;
- testing of all residents for the
coronavirus.
 One
thing that definitely stands out in light of the
April 8 emergency
intervention is that the level of care in the
Herron home was totally
inadequate, long before the pandemic. With
regards to this, the
author states: "Can private promoters succeed in
meeting the overall
needs required by people in conditions of a
severe loss of autonomy? Do
the workers' conditions contribute to stable,
ongoing and quality
care? The experience of the past three years at
the Herron home
suggests that the answer is no. In this context,
is the status quo for
this type of resource in 2020 still possible?"
In its statement upon publishing the report,
the Quebec government
states that it will "better take care of our
seniors
and our most vulnerable elderly communities in
Quebec."
As long as the Quebec government refuses to
increase investments in
health, including in the workers who provide the
care who are demanding
conditions which will allow them to care for and
protect the health of
all to the best of their ability, the situation
will not change.
(To access articles
individually click on the black headline.)
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