Nearly 70 healthcare workers with long Covid have taken their fight to the High Court to try to sue the NHS and other employers for compensation.
The staff, from England and Wales, believe they first caught Covid at work during the pandemic and say they were not properly protected from the virus.
Many of them say they are left with life-changing disabilities and are likely to lose income as a result.
The Department of Health said “there are lessons to be learnt” from Covid.
The group believe they were not provided with adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) at work, which includes eye protection, gloves, gowns and aprons.
Comments closedThe answers lie in poop. Based on the latest national sample of wastewater taken on January 13, 2024, the concentration of the SARS-Cov-2 virus is 1,132 copies/mL of sewage, an alarming increase compared to 280 copies/mL six months ago. This is one sign that cases of COVID infections have been rising, resulting in more hospitalizations, deaths, and people developing long COVID.
Like millions of other high-risk people who are service workers, older, chronically ill, disabled, or immunocompromised, I have done everything I can to remain as safe as possible. Due to neuromuscular disability and respiratory failure, my chances of surviving an infection are slim to none. With the latest JN.1 variant likely even more contagious – or better practiced at evading immune system defenses – than previous ones, I wonder if this is the surge when I will become infected, which is terrifying.
Comments closedLawyers representing long-term care residents who suffered or died during the COVID-19 pandemic argued a class-action suit against hundreds of homes is the best way for those patients — and their loved ones — to get justice.
On Monday, plaintiff lawyers laid out their case before a Superior Court judge who will decide whether or not the proposed class action can go ahead. The suit, which is actually eight proceedings combined, names 304 independent and municipal homes, capturing almost half of the long-term care facilities in Ontario.
Comments closedCovid-19 is still infecting and reinfecting millions of people around the world — causing more and more people to develop Long Covid. But public health and government agencies worldwide have failed to warn people about Long Covid and support those affected, and still aren’t effectively funding research to find effective treatments.
In response to the lack of support, people with Long Covid in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Europe are buying billboard ads to raise awareness about the disease and promote the urgent need for clinical trials. These billboards aim to do the job of public health authorities, advocates who spoke to The Sick Times explained.
Comments closedAn industrial camp operator has been fined over $200,000 for failing to implement COVID-19 safety measures after a worker died of the virus in their Dawson Creek, B.C., room.
The WorkSafeBC fine, handed down in September 2023 but released to the public last week, penalizes Horizon North Camp & Catering & Dexterra Group Inc. $206,346.90 for failing to implement a number of procedures.
Those include failing to enforce physical distancing, temperature checks, reporting symptoms, isolating workers and seeking medical attention.
Comments closedOn May 11, 2023, the US federal government put an end to the COVID-19–related public health emergency. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) no longer recommends routine universal masking in most health care settings. Many clinicians and staff at hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes around the country have stopped regularly wearing masks. A conflict might arise when patients who are immunocompromised or have other risk factors that increase their susceptibility to COVID-19 complications seek health care and encounter an unmasked clinician. Individuals who have such conditions are considered disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Those disabled patients nowadays must embark on a “personal crusade for public health” to have their needs met.
Comments closedA citizen who believes that his language rights were violated during the COVID-19 media availability takes legal action against the Province of New Brunswick, the…
Comments closedIn a groundbreaking development, Arizonans can now apply for worker’s compensation if they contract COVID-19 while on the job. This landmark decision stems from a widow’s determined fight to secure worker’s compensation following her husband’s tragic demise due to COVID-19.
Court documents unequivocally state that if someone contracts COVID-19 at their workplace, they are entitled to file for worker’s compensation. An essential detail to note is that if a worker succumbs to the virus, their next of kin will receive financial support.
Comments closedComments closedWhat we uncovered was an oversight system that was strained before the pandemic, and proved to be wholly incapable and unprepared to handle the additional stresses posed by COVID-19.
Recourse is limited for employees forced to remove their masks at work in Quebec, as the COVID-19 pandemic gathers momentum.
Comments closed“Disabled, sick, immunocompromised and vulnerable people seeking care at a hospital, have the right not to be exposed to a virus that has killed 1.1 million Americans in 3.5 years. They have the right to seek care without having to fear that their care team will quite literally kill them with a preventable illness. Practitioners, on the other hand, have no right to compare the irritation of having to wear a mask at work with the moral injury of infecting vulnerable people who then go on to die at high rates.”
Comments closedDozens of studies have shown that not only do N95 masks work on an individual level, but they lower transmission when people actually follow guidelines. Even the strongest critics of mask policies are forced to admit that masks themselves are effective.
Comments closedIn May 2023, Mass General Brigham instructed its patients that they “cannot ask staff members to wear a mask because our policies no longer require it.”
Following patient protests, the hospital updated its policies with an imperfect fix, announcing that “patients can ask, but providers determine when and if masking in a particular situation is clinically necessary.”
Comments closedThe In-N-Out burger chain will bar employees in five states from wearing masks unless they have a doctor’s note, according to internal company emails leaked on social media.
Comments closedComments closedYou can’t be putting the responsibility for basic measures to protect people with disabilities and chronic disease… on them when a very minor, reasonable, easy-to-do accommodation can be just kept in place.
