Rubina Khan, a registered nurse who nearly died due to the virus over a year ago, is not certain how she got COVID-19. She speculates it very well may be connected to an airborne transmission that Ontario's health authorities have recently recognized in a discreet manner.
While focused on attending to occupants in a drawn-out care home in Southern Ontario last March, Khan does not remember anybody coughing in near her vicinity. Yet, when the 61-year-old discovered she had contracted COVID-19, an outbreak occurred, infecting more than 60 of her partners, as well as dozens of the residents, reports CBC.
During that point, individual defensive hardware, also known as PPE gears, had been confined to staff working in a part of the home where the occupants were isolated and quarantined, which is among the guidelines after medical facility visits. Khan stated that while they were quarantined, there were no available masks relayed to them. She believes that the airborne virus particles may have been active in the same air she was breathing with the others.
Outdated COVID-19 Public Health Guidelines Risks Ontario with Aerosol Transmission
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also known as CDC, identified during the first wave of the virus that COVID-19 is spread fundamentally through the air in minuscule particles, also known as aerosols, that are spitted unintentionally by a person during sneezing, coughing, and even talking. With the threat that aerosols bring, most of Ontario's health guidelines aligned on precautionary measures including social distancing and hand-washing. The lack of focus on the airborne droplets helped the infected rate spike.
Most experts agreed that Ontario's guidelines are already outdated and might put the lives of the working population, including frontliners, at risk. Currently, almost 550,000 of Ontario's population have been diagnosed with COVID-19. In the total number of cases, over 30,000 are recorded from health workers.
Ontario Nurses Association Takes Legal Action vs Health Authorities
Forensic investigator and Ontario SARS Commission expert Mario Possamai said that Ontario has indeed put their citizens at risk, as implementing the warnings that were supposed to take effect on the initial wave of the virus failed, reports MSN. Pssamai states that the SARS outbreak in 2003 must have been a lesson, as it served as a 'dress-rehearsal' for COVID-19.
Possamai stated that the enforcement of health protocols against airborne disease, including respiratory protection and improved ventilation systems, must have been applied earlier. The Ontario health guidelines include that aerosol precautions in place are already enough to prevent coronavirus transmission. As per the technical brief of the region, airborne protection including the N95 masks is only required to be worn by experts that work with aerosol-generating producing methods such as intubation.
The health authorities of Ontario have no comments yet regarding the matter due to the legal challenge placed by the Ontario Nurses Association ONA. As of now, there are no statements and full judgments from the court. Several citizens, including health care workers who were infected with COVID-19, are still grateful to survive the virus. Some of the citizens that MSN interviews are a bit mad, as all would be a different situation if the guidelines were a bit earlier.
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