Member Update: COVID-19- May 6th

Dear ,

Thank you to the many nurses who joined us for last night's Facebook Live event. As always, we appreciated your comments, insights and feedback.

Following up on some of your questions, we're resharing some key resources:

The latest guidance documents are available on the Ministry's website
Directives, including those about PPE are available on our COVID-19 Hub
For those looking for guidance on donning and doffing, please check our COVID Resource Centre
You can also now access our daily newsletters online

If you missed it last week, click here to read Dianne's opinion piece Protecting long-term care workers a priority

Key Provincial Updates and Resources for Health Professionals

Today the Ontario government announced that it will be allowing all retail stores with a street entrance to provide curbside pickup and delivery, as well as in-store payment and purchases at garden centres, nurseries, hardware stores and safety supply stores beginning this weekend.

The Government has also extended the emergency orders until May 19th

The Government also announced that it will be extending electricity rate relief until May 31, 2020.

The Command Table met yesterday and a summary of the discussion is available here.

Also, in case you missed it yesterday, the Ministry has updated the Home and Community Care Guidance Document and created a new Residential Hospice Guidance Document has also been created directed at palliative and end-of-life care provided in residential hospice settings.

For more information, we encourage you to visit the Ministry of Health and Public Health Ontario website

Key Federal Updates
There was no federal announcement today as the Prime Minister was in Trenton for a repatriation ceremony for the six members of the Canadian Armed Forces who died in last week's helicopter crash off the coast of Greece.

The Chief Medical Officer of Health noted that Canada is on track to complete its millionth test but is still falling short of it's goal.

In Ottawa, some MPs continued to debate the federal response to COVID-19. More details here

For more information, we encourage you to visit the Government of Canada website.

Daily Reports

As of 10:30AM today, Ontario reported 18,722 confirmed cases (increase of 412), 13,222 resolved cases, 1,429 deaths and 8,790 currently under investigation with lab results pending.

The Ministry is also reporting that 1,032 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19, 219 are in ICU and 174 are vented. To view these additional details: click here

Click Here to read the latest Ministry of Health Daily Report
**Please note, these reports are intended for health professionals only and we request that you not share this with the public.

World Health Organization Situation Reports are also available here

In the News
For an interactive map tracking all cases across Canada and internationally, click here

Below are some key stories from today that may be of interest to our members:

Urgent Jobs During COVID-19

RPNs seeking opportunities to support COVID efforts can find postings on the following sites:

WeRPN's COVID-19 Staff Needed section
The Provincial Government recruitment portal and match them with opportunities.
Health Force Ontario recruitment for health professionals.
The Ontario Long Term Care Association job matching program

We encourage RPNs looking for employment opportunities to sign up on all the platforms noted above.

We will continue to monitor this situation and keep you updated as more information becomes available. Thank you for the important work that you're doing and the sacrifices you're making to keep Ontarians safe. We appreciate everything that you're doing each and every day.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact Tiff Blair at tblair@werpn.com

Sincerely,

WeRPN Team