Tag: human rights

Long COVID Patients Say WorkSafeBC Is Making Life Worse

Published by: The Tyee
Published on: March 11, 2024
By Brishti Basu

Maryanne Andrew has been getting sicker and sicker since she caught COVID-19 in January 2022 while working in a Campbell River school.

And instead of helping, she says, WorkSafeBC’s attempts to require her to go back to work have made her symptoms worse.

Andrew is among more than two million Canadians still suffering from long-term COVID symptoms as of last summer, according to a Statistics Canada survey, which also found about half of the patients reported not seeing any improvements in their condition over time.

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United Kingdom

Long Covid: Health staff go to court for compensation

Published March 6, 2024

Published by: BBC
Published on: March 6, 2024
By Catherine Burns

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.

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the pandemic is not over

COVID Isn’t Going Anywhere. Masking Up Could Save My Life.

Published January 17, 2024

Published by: Teen Vogue
Published on: January 17, 2024
By Alice Wong

The 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.

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Ontario

Arguments begin in proposed class action against 304 long-term care homes

Published January 15, 2024

Published by: The Trillium
Published on: January 15, 2024
By Jack Hauen

Lawyers 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.

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activism

Long Covid advocates face challenges, potential discrimination with billboard campaigns

Published January 9, 2024

Published by: The Sick Times
Published on: January 9, 2024
By Simon Spichak

Covid-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.

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labour rights

Camp operator penalized $206,000 after B.C. worker found dead of COVID-19

Published January 2, 2024

Published by: Prince George Citizen
Published on: January 2, 2024
By Stefan Labbé

An 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.

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human rights

Physicians’ Refusal to Wear Masks to Protect Vulnerable Patients—An Ethical Dilemma for the Medical Profession

Published November 17, 2023

Published by: JAMA Health Forum
Published on: November 17, 2023
By Doron Dorfman, Mical Raz, Zackary Berger

On 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.

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New Brunswick

COVID-19 : le gouvernement Higgs poursuivi pour son manque de communication en français

Published November 2, 2023

Published by: Radio-Canada
Published on: November 2, 2023

A 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…

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long COVID

Long COVID patient feels ‘discarded’ by N.L. government, says it’s deflecting responsibility for condition

Published November 2, 2023

Published by: CBC News
Published on: November 2, 2023
By Jessica Singer

Newfoundland and Labrador’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, says addressing and treating long COVID isn’t within the purview of public health.

It’s left some patients in the province feeling left behind.

“There’s so many people that are likely suffering that have no clue because there is no provincial directive,” said Stacey Alexander, a teacher from Corner Brook who has been suffering from long COVID since the beginning of 2020.

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labour rights

Arizonans can now receive workers comp benefits for getting Covid-19 on the job

Published September 23, 2023

Published by: KVOA
Published on: September 23, 2023
By Gabrielle Parish

In 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.

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Ontario

Ontario government oversight of long-term care homes ‘largely collapsed’ during pandemic, ombudsman finds

Published September 7, 2023

Published by: CTV News
Published on: September 7, 2023
By Codi Wilson

What 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.

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Quebec

Un droit limité au port du masque au Québec

Published September 6, 2023

Published by: Le Devoir
Published on: September 6, 2023
By Zacharie Goudreault

Recourse is limited for employees forced to remove their masks at work in Quebec, as the COVID-19 pandemic gathers momentum.

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hospital-acquired infections

Hospitals are killing patients because they don’t feel like doing infection control

Published August 23, 2023

Published by: The Gauntlet
Published on: August 23, 2023
By Julia Doubleday

“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.”

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universal masking

Everyone Has The Right to Mask

Published August 20, 2023

Published by: OK Doomer
Published on: August 20, 2023
By Jessica Wildfire

Dozens 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.

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human rights

A Patient’s Right to Masked Health Care Providers

Published July 20, 2023

Published by: Bill of Health - Harvard University
Published on: July 20, 2023
By Katherine A. Macfarlane

In 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.”

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human rights

Masks are out at In-N-Out after burger chain bans employees from wearing them in 5 states

Published July 19, 2023

Published by: The Associatad Press
Published on: July 19, 2023
By Wyatte Grantham-Philips

The 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.

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universal masking

Calgary doctor to challenge AHS mask policy change in court

Published June 16, 2023

Published by: Global News
Published on: June 16, 2023
By Adam Toy

You 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.

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human rights

End of health-care mask mandates puts vulnerable at risk: B.C. human rights commissioner

Published April 12, 2023

Published by: Vancouver Sun
Published on: April 12, 2023
By Joseph Ruttle

B.C.’s human rights commissioner is criticizing provincial health officials for ending mask mandates in health-care settings, saying it puts the most vulnerable and marginalized people at risk.

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Tag: human rights

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