Anger at UK lockdown easing plans 'that could put workers at risk'

Unions criticise guidance and say staff may refuse to turn up unless safety is guaranteedRowena Mason and Heather Stewart Tue 5 May 2020 THE GUARDIAN
 

Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the TSSA, warned that the government’s demands for hugely increasing public transport from next week were unrealistic. Photograph: Newscast/REX/Shutterstock

Workers may refuse to turn up or stage walk-outs unless the government helps guarantee their safety, trade unions have warned amid anger over guidance designed to ease the lockdown.

As ministers prepare to urge the country back to return to work, Labour joined a string of trade unions in criticising draft guidelines for being vague, inadequate and putting staff at risk because employers can choose how closely to follow them.

They warned that vulnerable people such as pregnant women, those with underlying conditions such as cancer, asthma and diabetes, and over-70s could be forced to work without enough protections.

Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, backed workers’ concerns on Monday night, saying: “People rightly need confidence that it’s safe before they go back out to work, travel or use public services.” He called for a “national safety standard” for businesses, schools and public services, with clear guidelines on social distancing.

Boris Johnson is intending to set out on Sunday how restrictions can be eased, amid concerns about the economic cost of the lockdown – and pressure from restive Conservative MPs.

A string of Tories raised concerns about the continuing restrictions in the Commons on Monday, with Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 committee, calling for the removal of “arbitrary rules and limitations on freedom as quickly as possible” and suggesting the public had been “a little too willing to stay at home”.

Business groups and trade unions were given 12 hours to respond to draft guidelines over the weekend for how to protect people at work if the two-metre rule cannot be followed, with suggestions including physical shields, time limits on face-to-face meetings and staggered shift times.

According to sources, other workplace measures include reduced hot-desking and avoiding the sharing of equipment including pens. A section marked PPE contains only a promise of more detail. One section says employers could consider limiting how many people are in a vehicle, without saying how many the government considers would be safe.

Unions, led by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), criticised the non-binding guidelines for letting employers decide what is safe when it comes to distance between workers, cleaning practices and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).

The TUC, which represents 5.5m workers through its member unions, warned that under the current guidance “bad bosses will be able to expose workers to infection without fear of consequences”.

The section referring to workers with underlying health conditions says they should be “asked to take extra care in observing social distancing” and “helped to work from home where possible” – or alternatively “offered the safest possible roles”, the Guardian understands.

Boris Johnson is due to detail how restrictions will be eased on Sunday. Photograph: Andrew Parsons/10 Downing Street/Crown Copyright/PA

But unions fear that creates a loophole that could allow exploitative bosses to pressure vulnerable staff to return to the workplace.

The TUC is also calling for employers to be obliged to publish the risk assessments they will have to carry out before staff can return, to allow workers to scrutinise them.

The GMB, which has more than 600,000 members, said the guidance “does not adequately protect workers from Covid-19 exposure and as a result many may refuse to work to avoid putting themselves and their families at risk”.

It highlighted section 44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, which gives workers the “right to cease work in circumstances of serious and imminent danger to themselves or others” and said it was “clear that failure to adequately control or mitigate Covid exposure risk would be considered serious and imminent danger by the worker”.

John Phillips, the GMB’s acting general secretary, said: “For weeks the government has warned people this virus is dangerous and they must maintain social distancing and abide by the lockdown. They cannot just flick a switch, say it’s safe to work within two metres of other people without PPE and expect them to head merrily off to work.”

Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), warned that the government’s demands for hugely increasing public transport from next week were unrealistic.

“It’s not just for the staff but passengers – how safe will people feel on overflowing train or tube carriages at the moment?” he said. “Health and safety laws allow people to walk off jobs if they are at risk. That is the law of our country. And clearly our members are knowledgeable about the law.

“But I hope we will not reach that stage because I do believe employers actually do care about the health and safety of members and the travelling public.”

With the government keen to open schools from next month, teaching unions say they are awaiting detailed discussions about how that could take place safely.Q&A
What are the UK government's 'five tests' for ending lockdown restrictions?Show

Kevin Courtney, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said “there needs to be an in-depth conversation about how we can keep education staff safe and, we think, parents and carers of children, safe in this context”.

Senior union sources said they believed the government would have to improve its workplace guidance in negotiations, especially to protect the vulnerable, but if not, then many trade unions would have to advise their members not to go into work if they feel at risk.

Our priority is protecting the public. We supported the lockdown and support restrictions staying in place at this time

Keir Starmer

However, they also stressed that the government appeared to want to avoid industrial tensions at a time of national crisis. Ministers are also concerned about ensuring workers feel safe enough to venture out of lockdown.

In a hint that the government might be willing to make concessions to assuage public fears, Amanda Solloway, the business minister, told MPs on Monday that her department was negotiating with employers and unions to “come to a shared view” about workplace safety.

She was speaking after Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, wrote to the business secretary, Alok Sharma, saying unions would have “no hesitation” in telling members that the guidelines cannot protect workers unless they were significantly strengthened.

The letter, seen by the Guardian, says: “Working people need to see that the government is genuinely committed to protecting their health and safety. At present, this guidance fails to provide clear direction to those employers who want to act responsibly and is an open goal to the worst of employers who want to return to business at usual – which will put their workforce at risk.

“We want to be able to recommend the government’s approach to safe working to our members and the wider workforce. As it stands, we cannot.”

Labour threw its weight behind the TUC’s concerns. Starmer said the government must address trade union concerns about coronavirus safety at work, as he unveiled a seven-point plan for a “national consensus” on tackling the virus.

Speaking ahead of talks with the prime minister later this week, he said: “Our priority is protecting the public’s health and saving lives. That is why we supported the lockdown and again support the restrictions staying in place at this time.”

Starmer also said the government should beef up the health and safety executive, which will have the job of enforcing new safety rules, but has been hit by deep budget cuts in recent years.

A business department spokesperson said: “We have been working with businesses, union leaders and the science and medical community on developing sensible guidance for businesses that will give UK workers the utmost confidence they can return to work safely.

“As part of this process we have worked closely with the TUC and look forward to continuing that close engagement, and will of course consider any recommendations they make carefully.”

Workplace coronavirus safety rules must be binding, says Labour

Keir Starmer criticises government’s draft guidance as ‘pretty vague’ and calls for enforcement of common set of standards

Rowena Mason Deputy political editor Tue 5 May 2020 THE GUARDIAN
 

Keir Starmer said people were ‘really worried about going to work’. 

Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has called for sanctions on employers who flout rules on keeping workers safe from coronavirus, as Matt Hancock, the health secretary, refused to confirm how new guidance on social distancing at work would be enforced.

Starmer said people were “really worried about going to work” and called for a consensus between the government, opposition parties, employers and trade unions on how to make workplaces safe with national standards on social distancing and handwashing.

In a round of broadcast interviews, he branded the government’s draft guidance on social distancing at work “pretty vague” and called for real enforcement of a common set of standards to help reassure people that lifting the lockdown would be safe.

Unions are deeply concerned about the guidance, warning that it could let rogue employers get away with endangering their staff if the government advice is voluntary and not enforceable.

Pressed on the issue, Hancock avoided saying whether there would be binding standards for employers on keeping workers safe. He told Sky News that such issues were “under discussion” between trade unions and the business department but stopped short of setting out how those employers who disobey the rules would be punished.

The government has been worried that people may be too concerned about coronavirus to want to leave the lockdown, while trade unions warned on Monday that many could refuse to go back to work or stage walk-outs if they felt unsafe.

Starmer argued that national standards would give “a degree of confidence”, telling ITV’s GMB: “The point that trade unions have raised is safety at work and there was a consultation document the government put out last weekend which was pretty vague, and it needs strengthening.

Q&A

What are the UK government's 'five tests' for ending lockdown restrictions?

“That’s why one of the principles I’ve set out today is a national safety standard. I think people will want to know: if I’m going back to work, is it a safe environment, what’s being done about social distancing, what are the hand-washing facilities, if I need protective equipment am I going to get it? It’s that degree of reassurance.”

Starmer also raised concerns about the emphasis that Hancock is placing on getting people to download an app to help trace the contacts of those confirmed as infected with coronavirus. The mission to test, track and trace those with coronavirus is part of the plan for new outbreaks of coronavirus to be suppressed, as the UK exits the lockdown.

“I am a bit concerned that a similar app in Singapore only had a 20% take up rate,” Starmer told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “You’re going to have to have more manual tracing as well.”

The government launched a pilot scheme on Monday to trial the app in the Isle of Wight, where people are being urged to download it.Q&A
What is contact tracing?Show

Hancock said the app was “a very, very positive step in terms of us all being able to get some of our liberty back”.

He added: “By having the test, track and test in place we can release more of the social distancing measures and, as I said, the more people who download it ... the more effective it will be and the more we can control the spread of the virus, and that’s why it’s so important to do this.”

The app has been criticised by some campaigners for jeopardising people’s privacy. Amnesty International has raised concerns that “the government may be planning to route private data through a central database, opening the door to pervasive state surveillance and privacy infringement, with potentially discriminatory effects”.

However, Hancock dismissed that charge as “completely wrong.” Asked why, he said: “Firstly because the data is stored on your phone until you need to get in contact with the NHS in order to get a test and secondly because the purposes of this are purely and simply to control the spread of the virus, which is really important.

“Thirdly because we’ve all had to give up significant infringements on our liberty, for instance with the social distancing measures and the lockdown, and we want to release those, and this approach will help us to release them ... I can reassure you that it’s completely untrue.”

The health secretary was also questioned about whether new rules for social distancing and staying at home would be different for the over-70s and people with underlying health conditions.

Many Tory MPs are urging the government not to treat people differently based on age, with Sir Graham Brady, leader of the backbench 1922 Committee, urging government to let older people take their own decisions about the risks

Hancock would not give any assurances that older people would be treated in the same way as younger people when the lockdown is eased, although he said that had been the approach so far.

“The [over-70s] are not part of the shielded group, which is about individual conditions. But unfortunately it is a scientific fact that older people are more susceptible to having very serious consequences of this disease and a much higher proportion of people sadly who’ve died are in the older groups,” he said.

Reuters Pulitzer team captured Hong Kong's descent into chaos

The young woman is pressed to the ground next to a riot police shield. Detained by Hong Kong authorities, she screams her name out to friends so they can call a lawyer to help.

An anti-extradition bill protester is detained by riot police during skirmishes between the police and protesters outside Mong Kok police station, in Hong Kong, China, September 2, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File photo
The picture, taken on Sept. 2 last year in the midst of huge and violent protests that rocked Hong Kong for more than six months, was part of a series of images by a team of Reuters photographers that won a Pulitzer Prize this week for breaking news photography.

The photographs range from sweeping bird’s eye views of boulevards packed with tens of thousands of demonstrators to close-ups of pitched battles between anti-China protesters and police seeking to restore order.

Most of the violence took place at night, lending an eerie aura to the action - protesters stood out as silhouettes against teargas smoke; giant neon letters reading “FREE HK” and carried aloft by protesters glowed in the gloom from a hilltop.

For Tyrone Siu, a Reuters photographer who is from Hong Kong, covering the story was intensely personal.

A graduate of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, scene of some of the fiercest clashes between police and protesters, he saw his alma mater turned into a battleground. The city sports stadium became a giant shelter for injured protesters.

“At the same time, I must remain calm amid the intense atmosphere in order to carry out my duty as a photojournalist, helping foreign colleagues to get about and handling the fast-changing situation,” he recalled.


Siu took the picture of the shouting woman and, despite spending months on the streets of a city that resembled a war zone at times, it sticks in his memory.

“The emotions shown on her face were so strong and striking that it left a lasting memory,” he said.

“But it was only one day of many days, one face of many young faces being detained by the police in this manner throughout the months-long protest.”

‘CHASING AROUND’

The Pulitzer Prize for Reuters, a unit of Thomson Reuters, was the newsroom’s eighth since 2008, and fifth in the last three years. Reuters coverage of the Hong Kong uprising was also a Pulitzer finalist in the international reporting category.

Many of the winning photographs depicted violent clashes between Hong Kong protesters and authorities, including images taken in the midst of skirmishes with tear gas, rubber bullets and hurled bricks.

Ahmad Masood, Asia Editor for Reuters Pictures who oversaw the coverage, said he and others began to prioritise the Hong Kong story in June, when big rallies were announced.


As mass protests turned violent and time passed, the protest movement began to fracture, making it harder to plan.

“This is where Tyrone’s local knowledge and network of contacts kept the team informed of what the next development was likely to be,” said Masood.

“There was a lot of chasing around. Sometimes there were four photographers at different spots across the city with some serious clashes going on during daylight and night.”

In some pictures, civilians are caught up in the chaos - passengers outside an airport running with their luggage or a man crouching as he leaves an optician store, the flames of a molotov cocktail licking the street in front of him.

In others, police clash with demonstrators, many of them students wearing gas masks and helmets.

There are moments of brutality. A photograph taken by Thomas Peter shows a masked anti-government protester attacking a man suspected of being a pro-Beijing activist with a hammer. Blood pours from the victim’s head.

Jorge Silva photographed a woman with fury etched on her face as she held a Chinese flag in support of Beijing and shouted into her smartphone, while anti-China protesters crowded around her.

Rickey Rogers, Global Editor for Reuters Pictures, said the prize was a testament to the teamwork that went into covering a protracted and often dangerous story.

“Eleven photographers have their names inscribed in journalistic history, but there were 28 Reuters photographers who rotated through Hong Kong during 2019, plus security and legal advisers, and a team of editors.

“All of them were critical in what truly matters beyond any prize – telling the news story to the world.”

Reporting and writing by Mike Collett-White

Virgin Atlantic to axe a third of jobs and shut Gatwick operations

Airline fights for survival as coronavirus pandemic puts industry in jeopardyJasper Jolly Tue 5 May 2020 THE GUARDIAN
 

Grounded planes at Bournemouth airport. Virgin said it could take three years for flight numbers to recover. Photograph: Naomi Baker/Getty

Virgin Atlantic plans to cut more than 3,000 jobs and shut its operations at Gatwick airport in the latest sign of the chaos caused in the airline industry by the coronavirus.

The 3,150 planned redundancies represent almost one in three of Virgin Atlantic’s workforce of 10,000, prompting calls from unions and Labour for the government to step in to save the jobs.

Airlines across the world have been rocked by the grounding of flights as a result of the pandemic lockdowns, which have put their business models in jeopardy.

Virgin Atlantic’s job cuts are the latest blow to the UK and Irish aviation industries, with tens of thousands of redundancies planned. International Airlines Group plans to cut 12,000 jobs at British Airways and 900 at Aer Lingus. Irish budget carrier Ryanair has also announced 3,000 job losses, while aerospace manufacturer Rolls-Royce is considering as many as 8,000 redundancies.

Virgin said it could take three years for flight numbers to return to 2019 levels, and that it had to cut jobs to survive.

At the time of the lockdown, according to flight schedules data research by Cirium, the airline was operating 422 flights per week and carrying more than 100,000 passengers. In February Virgin accounted for 19% of the capacity crossing the Atlantic, with 258 weekly flights – second only to British Airways

Sir Richard Branson, the airline’s founder, has asked for a bailout but the UK government is unwilling to provide a separate package for airlines beyond the help offered to all businesses.

However, the Labour party called on the government to step in to protect the jobs of Virgin Atlantic employees.

“The government is failing workers by not stepping in and protecting these jobs,” said Jim McMahon, the shadow transport secretary. “Labour has consistently argued for a sector-specific deal for aviation, and the government must do more to ensure airlines and airports can operate safely when the time is right to transition out of the lockdown.”

Virgin Atlantic’s efforts to secure a bailout were thought to be hindered by the fact that US airline Delta Air Lines, which owns 49% of the company, had not injected more money.

Activists have expressed concerns that government funds should not be used to bail out Virgin because majority owner Branson is a billionaire who is not resident in the UK for tax purposes.

Branson last month pledged to mortgage his Caribbean island to help raise money for his stricken Virgin Group, promising to inject $250m into the company mostly to help the airline.

Campaigners have also raised concerns that a bailout of polluting airlines would impede progress on fighting the climate crisis.

European airlines have so far received pledges of more than €26bn of government support.

Union representatives said the Virgin job cuts represented “another devastating blow” for UK aviation, adding that cuts were premature while the government was still paying 80% of furloughed workers’ wages.

The announcement also added to concerns about the future of jobs at Gatwick airport. British Airways has cut back Gatwick operations and warned it could pull out altogether, while Norwegian Air Shuttle, the airport’s third-largest carrier, narrowly avoided bankruptcy after investors and creditors agreed a plan that will allow it to access state aid.

Diana Holland, the assistant general secretary of the Unite union, said she had “grave concerns about the impact on Gatwick airport”.

A Gatwick spokesman said the airport remained “very optimistic about the long-term prospects of Gatwick airport and our resilience as a business.”. He added that Virgin Atlantic would retain its flight slots at the airport so could return when demand recovers. The airline flies mostly to holiday destinations, including St Lucia, Barnados and Orlando, from Gatwick.

Alongside the job cuts, subject to consultation, Virgin will significantly restructure its operations. It will immediately retire its seven 747 jumbo jets, and move Gatwick flights to London Heathrow, while retaining its base in Manchester.

Shai Weiss, Virgin Atlantic’s chief executive, said: “To safeguard our future and emerge a sustainably profitable business, now is the time for further action to reduce our costs, preserve cash and to protect as many jobs as possible. It is crucial that we return to profitability in 2021.

“After 9/11 and the global financial crisis we took similar painful measures, but fortunately many members of our team were back flying with us within a couple of years.

“Depending on how long the pandemic lasts and the period of time our planes are grounded for, hopefully the same will happen this time.”

The Department for Transport has been approached for comment.

Virgin Atlantic job cuts were the only route to Treasury coffers

Billionaire Branson will have a tough time getting a hearing for the fantastical £500m of state aid he requires. What did he expect?

Sir Richard Branson crashes into a padded barrier while participating

 in a human bowling ball event in Atlanta. Photograph: Tannen Maury/EPA

Nils Pratley Published Tue 5 May 2020 THE GUARDIAN

Here’s the bit Sir Richard Branson didn’t mention in his open letter to Virgin employees a fortnight ago: the only possible route to the Treasury’s wallet involves almost a third of the 10,000 staff at the Virgin Atlantic losing their jobs.

The jobs decision hadn’t been taken at the time but Branson could still have foreshadowed an obvious threat. Government ministers were never going to throw £500m of taxpayers’ money, or some such sum, in Virgin Atlantic’s direction unless they could see a vaguely credible plan to cut costs. The airline, remember, was loss-making even before the pandemic.

As far it goes, the new boardroom thinking looks pragmatic. Unprofitable routes will be dropped, gas-guzzling and ancient 747s will be ditched and Gatwick will be abandoned as a base for the time being. It’s tough on staff but the entire airline industry is acting similarly.

The action plan, though, is very far from being a sufficient qualification for a bailout. The Treasury will not want to see Virgin Atlantic go bust, taking even more jobs with it, but, as Branson must know, the politics of a loan are appalling.

He’s a billionaire who lives in a tax haven and who has a liquid asset in the form of a $1.5bn stake in publicly traded Virgin Galactic; and the owner of the remaining 49% of Virgin Atlantic is Delta Air Lines, which can’t contribute because the US government doesn’t want a dime of its own bailout support to leak into foreign airlines.

To even get a hearing in the Treasury, Branson will now have to recapitalise Virgin Atlantic. That could mean injecting cash himself or finding new investors – and the capital will have to be genuinely at risk. Then he will have to pledge to forgo the £20m a year that Virgin Group is currently paid in brand fees, and persuade Delta to do similarly with its IT charge. He will then have to commit to financial transparency and, probably, offer an equity slice to the state.

Its impossible to know if he’s both willing and able to meet those demands, but they seem the minimum requirement for Treasury even to contemplate a loan or guarantee – and probably for a sum much smaller than the fantastical £500m. The process is harder than writing self-serving letters, but what did Branson expect?
Ocado investors are right to make a fuss over executive bonuses

Ocado these days is worth £12bn, equivalent to the combined stock market values of Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Marks & Spencer, which represents an astonishing shift in power in the food retailing industry.

The big money in the food retail business, it turns out, lies not in selling groceries to shoppers, but in selling robots and clever delivery technology to grocers. Ocado’s seven licensing deals with overseas retailers have transformed its prospects, and the pandemic has accelerated a process that was happening anyway.

And, since the Ocado co-founder and chief executive, Tim Steiner, still owns 29m shares, his 4.2% stake is worth roughly £500m. Which raises the obvious question: why on the earth, back in 2014, did he require a side order of 4m freebie shares to encourage him to turn up for work?

Those shares were the largest part of a “growth incentive plan” (GIP) that seems to have been created for no other reason than the management fancied a potentially juicer jackpot than could be generated by the regular long-term plan (which, naturally, they kept as well).

The sole performance condition was to get the share price to improve faster than the FTSE 100 index over a five-year period, which was achieved in spades. Last May Steiner’s 4m GIP shares were worth £54m and the company bought him out for cash. Three other directors shared almost £34m.

Wednesday’s vote on Ocado’s remuneration report, which describes the final tallies, therefore comes long after the ship has sailed. Rebellion, one might say, is pointless, especially as 2014’s shareholders approved the GIP at launch with the usual Putin-like majority of 83%.

But, actually, it’s still important that today’s Ocado investors make a fuss. Steiner’s £54m payday is not as ludicrous as the £75m that the housebuilder Persimmon showered on Jeff Fairburn, but the common element is the lack of a cap on the size of the reward.

Such structures, fund managers keep telling us, are no longer acceptable. If they mean it, they should give a thumbs-down to Ocado’s pay report. Steiner has created a brilliant business, but his GIP should never been proposed or approved.

Wisconsin GOP judge: COVID-19 is spreading due to meat-packing workers and not ‘regular folk

May 5, 2020 By Brad Reed


The Republican Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday said that COVID-19 is only spreading through people in meat-packing plants and not “the regular folks” who work elsewhere.

During a hearing about Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’s stay-at-home orders, Chief Justice Patience D. Roggensack downplayed concerns about the virus sweeping across the state by claiming it was limited to certain areas.

“Due to the meat-packing, though, that’s where Brown County got the [COVID-19] flare,” she said. “It wasn’t just the regular folks in Brown County.”

According to Vox correspondent Ian Millhiser, Roggensack made her remarks about “regular folks” in response to an attorney who defended the stay-at-home order for Brown County because the disease was spreading from urban areas into rural area

The working class aren’t “regular folks,” according to Wisconsin’s Republican chief justice, who is content to let them die. pic.twitter.com/JvnwdXJsPF
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) May 5, 2020

‘It’s ridiculous’: CNN reporter stunned after listening to Trump ranting about ‘haters’


During an exchange with reporters this Tuesday, President Trump was asked why he won’t allow Dr. Anthony Fauci to testify before the House. According to Trump, it’s because the House “is a set-up” that’s full of a “bunch of Trump haters.”

REPORTER: Why won't you let Fauci testify before the House?

TRUMP: "Because the House is a set up. The House is a bunch of Trump haters … they, frankly, want our situation to be unsuccessful, which means death." pic.twitter.com/G3G5OoV5IV
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 5, 2020


Trump went on to accuse the Democrats of wanting him to fail at battling the coronavirus, “which means death.”

CNN’s Dana Bash and Jim Sciutto discussed the spectacle, with Bash saying that Trump’s refusal to allow Fauci and other administration officials to testify before the House is “ridiculous and it flies in the face of the Constitution, what is required of Congress.”

“The idea that even now the president just doesn’t care about basic checks and balances in the Constitution is remarkable,” Bash said. “Elections have consequences — Democrats took control of the House, period.”

LinkedIn

"I want to be a nurse," she says. "But I didn't sign up to be a nurse to die.

An Ontario nurse explains how COVID-19 gets into care homes, then hits health-care workers

16% of all COVID-19 cases are now health-care workers, provincial data shows

Lauren Pelley · CBC News · Posted: May 05, 2020 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: May 5

© Evan Mitsui/CBC 

Pamella, a registered practical nurse in Whiby, Ont., whose identity CBC News agreed to conceal, started experiencing a strange set of symptoms, from dizziness to a bitter taste in her mouth, after contracting COVID-19. She believes she was…

As the weeks went by in March, and COVID-19 cases in Canada kept ticking upwards, Pamella started to worry about residents coming and going from the long-term care facility where she worked.

The registered practical nurse had been caring for elderly residents at the 126-bed Rekai Centre at Sherbourne Place in Toronto for 16 years, administering their medications, hooking them up to dialysis machines, and answering calls from their loved ones.

It was common for those clients to leave for therapy sessions or medical appointments. Amid a pandemic, Pamella feared the constant back and forth could put everyone at risk.

By mid-March, the no-nonsense 54-year-old — whose identity CBC News is protecting due to concerns about her job security — started warning her colleagues COVID-19 was clearly spreading through the city. She felt the home should cancel outside appointments for a while, and stop taking new admissions too.

Instead, Pamella says a resident was sent across the downtown core for his regular therapy appointment at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health — a facility which has since reported multiple outbreaks.

The man later started coughing on March 19. Just over a week later, test results showed he had the virus.

"In the back of my head, I'm thinking, 'Oh Christ,'" Pamella recalls.

A married mother of three, she didn't want to risk catching the potentially deadly illness and bringing it home to her family — but it was already too late. The man had mingled with fellow residents at Rekai Centre for days before his cough started, and staff members didn't wear full protective gear while caring for him until after he showed symptoms.

As Pamella puts it: "We were already exposed."

Soon after the resident's results came back, Pamella started to feel feverish, with a bit of a headache. Maybe it was nothing, she thought. Then she started sneezing, too.

On the last Sunday in March, she drove to St. Michael's Hospital in downtown Toronto to get tested.

Four days later, the results came back positive. Pamella had COVID-19.
More than 2,700 healthcare workers infected

It's now early May, and the COVID-19 crisis in Canada is still in full swing. Here in Ontario, roughly 18,000 people have fallen ill and 1,300 have died, while others could be infected without even knowing it.

Health-care advocates warned front-line workers were among those most at risk early on in the pandemic, amid concerns over personal protective equipment shortages and memories of the staggering toll on hospital staff during the SARS epidemic in 2003.

The predictions are proving accurate. While it's not clear where each health-care worker is getting infected, the number of positive cases keeps on rising — hitting 2,761 confirmed cases by May 4, according to the province.

So far, at least five of those infected front-line workers have died, and front-line staff are increasingly making up a greater chunk of the grand total of cases.

In early April, roughly 10 per cent of Ontario's cases were people working in the health-care field, including physicians, nurses, and personal support workers, as CBC News first reported on April 2 (the province did not start reporting this detail in its daily epidemiological summary until April 5).

Now, a month later, health-care workers make up 15.4 per cent of all cases.
Nurse felt ill 'from head to toe'

After joining the rising number of workers testing positive, Pamella stayed in isolation, avoiding any contact with her husband and her youngest teenage son, who still lives at the couple's Whitby home.

Alone in a bedroom as March turned into April, Pamella coped with headaches and the occasional cough as her mind filled with all the news reports she'd seen about patients succumbing to the disease.

She also noticed her mild, cold-like symptoms were evolving into something more strange.

There was a bitter taste in her mouth. And her appetite disappeared. As someone with diabetes, Pamella kept drinking juice while remaining mostly bedridden, hoping to make sure her sugar levels didn't drop since she wasn't eating regular meals.

The most frightening symptom, she says, was an all-consuming feeling of lightheadedness.

Around the clock, Pamella had to keep herself upright on her bed, otherwise it would feel like the room was spinning around her.

"All I kept thinking was: 'My god. I believe I'm too young to die. I have my kids,'" she recalls.

During those moments of private misery, she also learned some grim news from relatives in New York City, where hospitals were overrun with COVID-19 patients. One older family member in Brooklyn had battled the disease and survived, Pamella found out. A second relative, only in their 30s, wound up being on a ventilator in intensive care and later died.

Pamella kept reminding herself to stay strong, to have a sip of juice or eat a small snack if her body felt weak — anything to maintain some sense of control over the virus that made her feel ill "from head to toe."

Her husband also took time off work to keep an eye on her, and found he couldn't sleep while she was holed up in another room. Most nights, he told her later, he'd quietly open her door while she was sleeping just to make sure their worst fears hadn't been realized.

"Sometimes, I would turn and look," Pamella says, "and he would just ask: 'Are you okay?'"
17 residents have died at Rekai Centre

While Pamella was ill at home, the situation at the Rekai Centre at Sherbourne Place was deteriorating rapidly.

The novel coronavirus spread throughout the downtown facility, infecting at least nine staff members and 52 residents in just over a month, according to data from the Rekai Centres and Toronto Public Health.

So far, 17 of those clients have died, including the first ill resident who tested positive on March 27.

Sue Graham-Nutter, CEO of the Rekai Centres, stresses that first resident who showed COVID-19 symptoms was immediately placed in isolation, tested, and "monitored around the clock."

In a statement to CBC News, she also says all staff wear full personal protect equipment while caring for residents who have tested positive.

Since mid-March, Graham-Nutter adds, "only one resident" has left the facility, and that trip was for "critical medical appointments."

© Jon Castell/CBC News So far, 17 residents of the Rekai Centre at Sherbourne 
Place have died of COVID-19 since the first ill resident tested positive back on March 27.

When asked about whether the province could have done more earlier to protect front-line workers, amid concerns over issues like residents going back and forth between facilities, chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams said the notion of residents coming back to a home carrying COVID-19 is "an interesting assertion."

If long-term care residents are having health issues, on-site physicians may need to order tests that can't be found in the facility, he noted.

Others stress there are many interconnected issues that go far beyond any one policy or facility, given the hundreds of outbreaks now reported in long-term care homes and hospital sites across the province.

Pandemic planning not 'enacted quickly enough'

"Pandemic planning and infection control principles weren't enacted quickly enough," says Vicki McKenna, provincial president of the Ontario Nurses' Association.

Some front-line workers in various hospitals have been urged to ration and re-use personal protective equipment, while others working in long-term care have experienced extreme staffing shortages.

In contrast, McKenna notes, front-line staff at many care homes without outbreaks have documented some common approaches. Most stopped visitors from entering early on, and reviewed whether residents needed to leave for outside appointments. Many also ordered extra supplies, ensuring they'd have a stockpile of personal protective gear if things took a turn for the worse.

On a broader level, and particularly in the case of privately run homes, she says it's crucial that the province starts ramping up inspections to protect not only residents, but the staff struggling to care for them safely
.
© Evan Mitsui/CBC A staff member at an Ontario long-term care home is wearing full personal protective equipment amid an outbreak among the residents.

As CBC News recently reported, only nine out of 626 homes in Ontario received annual, proactive quality inspections in 2019 — down from just over half of the province's homes the year before, and most of them in previous years.

Those full inspections need to happen alongside complaint-based checks, McKenna stresses, adding: "I don't think they should be notified in advance."

Amid the ongoing pandemic, other advocates say provincial officials need to mandate universal testing protocols for healthcare workers, and those in their care, to catch cases earlier.

"Remove the long-term care residents with COVID. Take them to hospital. Protect the people who don't have it in those facilities. Test like crazy to make sure other residents and staff are free from the disease," stresses Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions.

"All health-care workers in hospitals, long-term care, in retirement homes, community care, need to be tested," echoes Natalie Mehra, director of the Ontario Health Coalition, an advocacy group representing dozens of community organizations in support of public healthcare.

Currently, health-care workers are given priority at COVID-19 test sites, and the province is pursuing "proactive surveillance testing" in long-term care homes, including testing residents and staff without symptoms — though that directive was not sent from the Ministry of Health until April 21.

More than 31,900 cumulative tests have been completed in long-term care homes so far, with close to 38 per cent of the resident population tested, according to the Ministry of Long-Term Care.
'Some people have it really bad'

While officials in the outside world braced for new outbreaks and rising case counts, Pamella slowly began to feel like herself again.

The dizziness faded, and her appetite returned. She even started to experience unusual food cravings, like a sudden desire to munch on pickles.

"If you're pregnant, it's not mine!" her husband joked, a moment of levity like the couple hadn't experienced for weeks.

Fully recovering from COVID-19 took roughly a month for Pamella. Meanwhile, many of her infected colleagues are still enduring the whole terrifying spectrum of symptoms.

"A lot of the staff members I've been in touch with — some people have it really bad," she says. "Some people are not able to keep down anything. Vomiting. Body aches."
© Evan Mitsui/CBC Pamella, whose identity CBC News agreed to conceal, says in the future, all health-care facilities and long-term care homes need to store ample personal protective gear, isolate infected residents quickly, and put stronger plans in place for infection control.

Standing on her home's wraparound porch, the space she'd come to get a few minutes of fresh air while enduring at-home isolation, Pamella announces with a broad smile that she's officially among those who "conquered" COVID-19, after recently testing negative twice in a row.

She's now eager to get back to work in the long-term care sector, despite the risks. But she maintains her employer failed to protect front-line workers like her by allowing residents to come and go during the pandemic, potentially carrying back the virus that has since infected dozens of the home's residents and staff.

"From the minute this pandemic started... we should've stopped all the appointments. They're not urgent. They're not necessary," she says.

In the future, all health-care facilities and long-term care homes need to store ample personal protective gear, isolate infected residents quickly, and put stronger plans in place for infection control, whether it's for this ongoing pandemic or the next flu season, just months down the line, Pamella says.

"I want to be a nurse," she says. "But I didn't sign up to be a nurse to die.

Stormtrooper with a gun: Alberta police take down restaurant worker in costume

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU

© Provided by The Canadian Press


LETHBRIDGE, Alta. — Police in southern Alberta are being investigated after a restaurant worker in a "Star Wars" stormtrooper costume who was carrying a plastic gun was forced to the ground and ended up with a bloody nose.

"All the signs say 'Star Wars.' The music that was playing in the parking lot was 'Star Wars,'" said Brad Whalen, owner of the Coco Vanilla Galactic Cantina in Lethbridge.

"If a duck's a duck, it's a duck, right. It should have been common sense and it should have stopped there.

Whalen said the 19-year-old employee of the "Star Wars"-themed restaurant had agreed to carry a toy blaster and wear the elaborate white uniform of the soldier of the Galactic Empire to get the attention of people celebrating May 4. The day is popular among fans of the movie franchise because of the famous line, "may the force be with you."

The restaurant, which serves Jabba the Gut pizza and Yoda soda, opened at the end of January and has been struggling due to restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently open again, Whalen was hoping to get some attention by having a stormtrooper walking out front of the business.

It got attention, just not the kind he was looking for.

The Lethbridge Police Service said officers were called to the restaurant Monday morning for reports of a person in a stormtrooper costume carrying a firearm. A news release Tuesday said when officers arrived, the person dropped the weapon but didn't initially comply with directions to get down on the ground

Whalen disputes the account that his employee didn't obey police commands. When officers arrived, she immediately dropped the weapon and put her hands up, he said

But Whalen said that the stormtrooper helmet makes it hard to hear and to be heard. It also makes it difficult to move, let alone to kneel or get down on your stomach. Whalen said this may have caused a delay in the employee getting on the ground.

"It's not the easiest thing to kneel down in. You can't even sit down in it. It takes 20 minutes to put on."

Whalen said by that time, police should have been aware that the gun was wasn't real and went with the costume.

A video of the encounter, shared on social media, shows an officer standing by the blaster while Whalen yells from the restaurant door that it's fake.

"It should have been common sense and it should have stopped there. Unfortunately, it didn't stop there. The police chose to escalate it," Whalen said.

Officers forced the employee on to her stomach and she hit her face and her nose started to bleed, said Whalen. In the video, a woman can be heard crying.

Police Chief Scott Woods has reviewed the file and received additional information, including the online video, the police release said. He has directed a service investigation into the officers' conduct and whether they acted appropriately

The woman in the costume was not charged.

Whalen said he's been contacted by lawyers and is looking at different options.

He said something needs to change in police training to ensure situations aren't unnecessarily escalated.

All employees of the restaurant have been impacted by the encounter, he said, none more so than the woman in the costume

"Ironically enough, she wasn't a 'Star Wars' fan," Whalen said. "I don't think she will be a 'Star Wars' fan ... if we had any chance to convert her."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 5, 2020

— By Kelly Geraldine Malone in Winnipeg

Lethbridge police criticized for takedown of Star Wars stormtroope


© Screenshot A woman dressed in a Star Wars stormtrooper costume was arrested by Lethbridge police on May 4, 2020.

The Lethbridge Police Service has started an internal investigation after officers drew their guns on a teenager dressed as a Star Wars stormtrooper carrying a toy gun.

The arrest happened around 11 a.m. on Monday. Police say they received two 911 calls about a person in a stormtrooper costume with a weapon.

The person was a 19-year-old female employee of Coco Vanilla Galactic Cantina, a Star Wars-themed restaurant, according to business owner Bradley Whalen. The teen was holding a prop plastic gun as part of her costume.

He said he’d asked his employee to wear the costume and wave to passersby because it was Star Wars Day. The date, May the 4th, is a pun on the film franchise slogan “may the force be with you.”

“We don’t have an issue with the fact that police responded,” said Whalen. “We have an issue with how they responded.”

A partial video of the arrest circulating on social media shows the employee with her hands up and on her knees while police have their guns drawn. Police can be heard yelling at her to get on the ground, although she does not immediately comply. Later the employee can be heard crying.

Editor’s note: The video below contains strong language.

Unbelievable, just got video of this.

*What the hell happened to common sense:

Girl dressed up as a stormtrooper on may4th facing 3 cops with weapons drawn. You can hear her sobbing. I USED TO dress up with the 501st. Probably not anymore @KinelRyan @DDayCobra #FandomMenace https://t.co/x2HrNLMtOL pic.twitter.com/YrS9bBFJVn— X E V I U S S 💬 (@xeviuss) May 5, 2020

Whalen said officers continued to treat the woman aggressively, even after they had determined the weapon was a costume prop.

“You could tell by looking at it, even 10 feet away, that it was a plastic toy,” said Whalen.

He said the woman was handcuffed and forced to the ground, but was later released at the scene of the incident without charges.

On Tuesday, the Lethbridge Police Service issued a news release announcing an internal investigation into the incident.

“Upon reviewing the file and additional information, including video circulating on social media, Chief Scott Woods has directed a service investigation under the Alberta Police Act that will look into whether the officers acted appropriately within the scope of their training and LPS policies and procedures.”

LPS has initiated a service investigation into the actions of several officers who responded to a report of a firearms complaint Monday morning. A public update will be provided after the investigation has been completed and reviewed. #yql https://t.co/hny6aoHYyo— Lethbridge Police (@lethpolice) May 5, 2020

The news release said the girl sustained a minor injury that didn’t require medical attention.

According to police, the employee did not comply with requests to get on the ground. Whalen finds that difficult to believe given her background.

“What a lot of people don’t understand is that this girl is in a criminal justice training program to be a police officer,” he said.

Whalen said the employee is taking a few days to recover from the stress of having guns pointed at her.

He said the incident has led to calls from media organizations across the U.S., and messages of support from as far away as Europe and New Zealand.

“Something has to happen,” said Whalen. “We have been contacted by lawyers who are wanting to help us.”

Lethbridge police say they won’t comment further on the incident until the investigation is complete.

brthomas@postmedia.com

China says faulty masks a 'contractual' matter that has been fixed
Canada however is thus far saying nothing about the matter.

MARKHAM, ON- APRIL 16 - Erin Landry, patient care manager, in scrubs, and Jo-anne Marr, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Markham Stouffville Hospital on the loading dock pull in a donation from Klick Health of 10,000 N95 masks, with 2,000 of them earmarked for Participation House in Markham. April 16, 2020. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

OTTAWA — The Chinese embassy in Ottawa claimed Monday that the one million faulty N95 masks that arrived in Canada from China last month were the result of a "contractual" issue that has now been fixed.

Both Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Health Minister Patty Hajdu looked perplexed Monday when asked at their daily briefing about a statement posted to the Chinese embassy's Twitter account Monday morning.

"It's reported that (one) million face masks exported to Canada from China failed to meet proper standards for health-care professionals," the tweet said.

"The latest thing we've found out from communication with Global Affairs Canada is that the problem was a contractual matter and has been resolved."

Freeland looked puzzled and turned to Hajdu beside her shaking her head.

"We'll have to get details back to you," Hajdu said. "I'm sorry we don't have that technical information right now."

It was inspectors in Hajdu's department who rejected the shipment of N95 masks, which arrived in Canada in the third week of April.

Neither her office, nor Global Affairs Canada had provided any explanation as of Monday evening.

China and Canada disagreed recently on why two Canadian planes returned from China without the medical supplies they were sent to pick up. Trudeau said it was due to congestion at the Shanghai airport and strict limits on time crews spend on the ground. A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry then said that was "inaccurate."

Canada is heavily reliant on China for securing enough personal protective equipment for health-care workers in the COVID-19 pandemic. It has set up a special supply chain system in Shanghai to secure the products in what Freeland has referred to as the "Wild West" of medical supplies.

Millions of N95 masks, surgical masks, gowns, swabs for COVID-19 tests, and other equipment have arrived in Canada from China already, and many have passed muster.

But on more than one occasion, in both Canada and elsewhere, including Finland, the Netherlands and Spain, Chinese-made products were returned when they failed to meet national standards. In addition to the N95 masks, Canada rejected a shipment of swabs for use in COVID-19 tests from China because they were mouldy.

N95 masks are so-named because they are supposed to protect against 95 per cent of small particles. Bill Matthews, the deputy minister for Public Services and Procurement told a House of Commons committee on April 24 the problem was mainly with the elastics that are used to secure the masks, not the filtration. He said it was possible they might be able to be used by workers not directly in contact with COVID-19 patients.

Matthews said the two companies involved in both the masks and the swabs were standing by their product and intended to make things right, but it is not clear whether those masks were replaced or if they were sent to other health-care workers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 4, 2020.

The Canadian Press