Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reporting 600 new cases of COVID-19, 4 deaths; Politicians issue warnings ahead of hospital protests expected across Canada
The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Monday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
3:58 p.m.: Ontario school boards have received more details from the province regarding protocols for unvaccinated staff who must take twice-weekly rapid COVID-19 tests.
A memo sent to boards Monday by the deputy education minister says testing is to be done at home and no more than 48 hours before coming to work.
The memo says there should be at least three days between tests.
Boards were directed to share the details with unvaccinated staff.
The province has instructed all boards to introduce vaccination policies requiring workers to regularly get tested for the virus in lieu of vaccination, with a deadline of Sept. 27 to implement the new rules.
Unvaccinated employees will also be required to watch a video about COVID-19 vaccination from the Ministry of Education.
Boards are expected to use an app called Thrive Health to verify and report the COVID-19 test results to the Ministry of Health. Those that don't use the app need to report weekly on the type and number of rapid tests used and how many results were invalid, positive or negative.
3:31 p.m.: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday threatened local governments with $5,000 (U.S.) fines per violation for requiring their employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus that has overrun hospitals and killed tens of thousands across the state.
Local municipalities, such as Orange County and the city of Gainesville, potentially face millions of dollars in cumulative fines for implementing a requirement that their employees get a COVID-19 vaccine, the Republican governor said.
Florida has been a national epicentre for the virus's spread this summer, with COVID-19 deaths in Florida accounting for more than 20 per cent of the virus-related deaths across the country last week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
At the news conference, DeSantis called on several local government workers from central Florida to explain why they didn't want to get a vaccine at the risk of losing their jobs. Several offered false conspiracy theories about the vaccines, which medical experts have said are safe and highly effective.
Gainesville spokesperson Shelby Taylor said the city stood by its decision.
It is our belief that as an employer we retain the right to require vaccination as a condition of employment," Taylor said in an email.
At a news conference, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, a Democrat, said that he believed many of the decisions the Republican governor makes are politically motivated and that the county would deal" with DeSantis's threat, either through the courts or another manner.
3:05 p.m.: Health officials in New Brunswick are reporting 122 new cases of COVID-19 since Friday.
There are now 229 active cases in the province and 11 people are hospitalized, including nine in intensive care.
Chief medical officer of health Dr. Jennifer Russell describes the current fourth wave of COVID-19 as an epidemic among the unvaccinated and those not yet eligible for vaccination.
She says 86 per cent of the new cases involve people who are not fully vaccinated.
Positive cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed at 11 schools and a number of child care centres in the province.
Starting Tuesday, all students must wear masks in schools and on school buses, but they can be removed to eat or take part in sports.
2:32 p.m. (Updated) Nine universities and colleges in Alberta say they are ramping up COVID-19 measures by making vaccination a requirement to enter their campuses.
University of Alberta, University of Calgary, University of Lethbridge and Medicine Hat College are among the institutions that will require proof of vaccination.
A joint news release from the nine schools also says rapid testing will no longer be accepted as an alternative to vaccination, except for those who cannot be vaccinated because of medical or other reasons.
Each school is to decide when it will begin enforcing the new measures.
The news release says vaccinations are the most effective way to protect communities from the damaging effects of COVID-19.
The announcement follows an off-campus outbreak in late August, when 45 University of Alberta students tested positive for COVID-19 after orientation.
2 p.m. Alberta Health Services is asking for jail time for an Alberta pastor and his brother found guilty of contempt after deliberately violating COVID-19 health orders.
Artur Pawlowski and his brother, Dawid Pawlowski, of Calgary were arrested in May and accused of organizing an illegal gathering as well as of promoting and attending an illegal gathering.
The arrests came after court orders were granted allowing Alberta Health Services and police to charge those who advertised gatherings that would breach health restrictions.
At a sentencing hearing today, the health provider asked that the pastor be jailed for 21 days and that his brother be sentenced to 10 days.
The court is also being asked to fine Artur Pawlowski $2,000 and impose $15,000 in costs.
The lawyer for the Pawlowskis is to finish her case Tuesday, but says her clients should not face incarceration.
1:50 p.m. A nurse told a Quebec coroner's inquest today that a Montreal-area long-term-care home where dozens of people died during the first wave of COVID-19 was understaffed and lacked proper equipment even before the pandemic hit.
Veronique Bosse, who worked as director of care at Residence Herron from September 2019 to January 2020, said on Monday there were not enough washcloths and mattress protectors for all the residents when she began work.
Bosse told coroner Gehane Kamel that there was also a lack of staff before the pandemic.
She said the ratio of health-care workers to patients was inadequate, and the residence was dealing with frequent staff turnover.
Bosse said the lack of employees was a result of low wages, adding that patient attendants in the residence were earning $12 an hour in 2019.
The coroner inquiry's mandate is to investigate 53 deaths at six long-term care homes and one seniors residence.
1:40 p.m. Amazon Canada is hiking wages as it seeks to fill thousands of new jobs against the backdrop of a labour market that has been dramatically altered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The e-commerce giant said Monday it will hire 15,000 new warehouse and distribution workers in communities across the country this fall to support its ongoing Canadian expansion plans.
Amazon also announced it will increase the starting wage for its front-line, hourly employees in Canada to between $17 an hour and $21.65 an hour, up from its current starting wage of around $16 an hour.
12:45 p.m. Veronica Wolski, the QAnon adherent whose recent hospitalization made her a cause celebre for the controversial medication ivermectin, died in the intensive care unit of AMITA Health Resurrection Medical Center early Monday, a hospital spokeswoman said. She was 64.
Wolski's social media followers said she was being treated for COVID-19, but the hospital, citing federal privacy laws, has declined to comment on her diagnosis. The Cook County medical examiner did not list a cause of death.
For more than a week, her supporters had besieged Resurrection with demands that Wolski be given ivermectin. The medication is typically used to treat diseases caused by parasitic worms, but has been hailed as a COVID cure by some despite a lack of definitive scientific proof or government authorization.
12:30 p.m. Alberta Health Services Edmonton Zone will immediately begin postponing additional scheduled elective surgeries and outpatient procedures in order to have sufficient ICU and inpatient capacity to manage the increased COVID activity across the zone and the province, according to a tweet by Alberta Health Services.
Edmonton Zone has opened an additional 54 ICU surge beds in addition to the 72 ICU funded beds for a total of 126 critical care beds. There are currently 82 patients with COVID in Edmonton ICUs. Patients who are impacted will be contacted and their procedures will be rescheduled.
12:20 p.m. A Toronto hospital where protests against COVID-19 measures are planned Monday says such demonstrations are demoralizing.
The University Health Network, which runs Toronto General Hospital, says staff who have cared for the people dying of COVID-19 are particularly disheartened.
Some high-ranking Ontario politicians and prominent health-care organizations are issuing warnings ahead of a number of protests expected to take place at hospitals across Canada today.
An organization calling itself Canadian Frontline Nurses posted notices of "silent vigils" expected to take place in all 10 provinces, saying they're meant to critique public health measures put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Prospective locations include the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre, Toronto General Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax.
12 p.m. Quebec is reporting 639 new cases of COVID-19 Monday and one additional death linked to the disease.
The Health Department says the number of hospitalizations rose by 14, to 227, and 75 people are in intensive care, unchanged from the day before.
Authorities say 13,034 doses of vaccine were administered Sunday. According to Quebec's public health institute, 88.3 per cent of residents 12 and over have received at least one dose of vaccine and 83.3 per cent are considered adequately vaccinated.
Laval, Montreal's large northern suburb, remains the most affected region in the province with 190.6 active cases per 100,000 people, followed by neighbouring Lanaudiere with 113 active cases per 100,000 people.
There are currently 73.3 active cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people in Quebec.
The public health institute says there were 414 active outbreaks in the province on Sunday, of which 52 were in primary schools or preschools and 69 were in daycares.
11:40 a.m. Ontario is reporting another 600 COVID-19 cases and six more deaths. Of the six, two of the deaths occurred more than one month ago and were added to the cumulative count due to a data cleanup, according to the province's latest report released Monday morning.
Ontario has administered 15,842 vaccine doses since its last daily update, with 21,183,369 vaccines given in total as of 8 p.m. the previous night.
According to the Star's vaccine tracker, 11,004,057 people in Ontario have received at least one shot. That works out to approximately 84.4 per cent of the eligible population 12 years and older, and the equivalent of 74.0 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.
The province says 10,179,312 people have completed their vaccinations, which means they've had both doses. That works out to approximately 78.1 per cent of the eligible population 12 years and older, and the equivalent of 68.5 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.
Read the full story from the Star's Urbi Khan
11:15 a.m. NDP Jagmeet Singh says anyone planning to take part in demonstrations planned in front of hospitals Monday shouldn't do it and is warning of criminal sanctions in the future if his party is elected to govern.
Speaking in Sioux Lookout, Ont., Singh says he would make changes to the Criminal Code to dissuade anyone from protesting close to a hospital or health-care workers.
He says a federal government can't ban protests, but harsher penalties like making harassing health-care workers or services a factor in sentencing is a way to denounce such demonstrations.
The issue of vaccinations and how to respond to the pandemic has been a mainstay of the federal campaign, which wraps up in one week on Sept. 20.
10:40 a.m. COVID-19 vaccines work so well that most people don't yet need a booster, an all-star panel of scientists from around the world said in a review that's likely to fuel the debate over whether to use them.
Governments would be better served to focus on immunizing the unvaccinated and to wait for more data on which boosters, and at what doses, would be most effective, the authors, who included two prominent U.S. Food and Drug Administration experts, argued in the medical journal The Lancet. They based their assessment on a wide range of real-world observational studies as well as data from clinical trials.
None of the studies has provided credible evidence of substantially declining protection against severe disease," the authors wrote. There could also be additional side-effect risks if boosters are introduced too soon or too broadly, they said.
10:20 a.m. Ontario is reporting 600 new cases of COVID-19 and 4 deaths; 475 cases in individuals not fully vaccinated. In Ontario, 21,183,369 vaccine doses have been administered. Nearly 84.4 per cent of Ontarians 12+ have one dose and nearly 78.1 per cent have two doses; 189 people are in ICU due to COVID-19.
10:17 a.m. New York City's first school year of full-time in-person learning in the COVID-19 era kicks off Monday - and it's fraught with more unanswered questions than any other in recent memory.
First and foremost on the minds of many anxious parents is whether city schools will continue to show the same low rates of virus transmission as last year, even as the number of kids expected in school buildings multiplies and the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.
Adding to the confidence of some health and city officials is the ongoing vaccination drive, including a looming mandate for Education Department staff and a 65 per cent vaccination rate for eligible city teens.
But many concerned teachers and parents say the city diluted a crucial protective tool by diminishing the amount of random COVID-19 testing in schools.
Even if transmission rates remain relatively low, cases originating outside school that make their way into classrooms could trigger rolling classroom quarantines for kids exposed to infected classmates.
For unvaccinated older students who will be required to isolate at home after school exposures, the amount and quality of instruction they receive during quarantine remains a source of major uncertainty.
10:10 a.m. Britain's chief medical officers said Monday that children aged 12 to 15 should be vaccinated against coronavirus, despite a ruling by the government's vaccine advisors that the step would have only marginal health benefits.
England Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty and his counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland said Monday that the age group should be given a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. They have yet to decide on whether to give the students a second dose.
The government has said it's highly likely to follow the recommendation. Expanded vaccinations are expected to be part of a tool kit" to control COVID-19 infections this fall and winter that Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to announce Tuesday at a news conference.
Johnson's Conservative government is hoping that widespread vaccinations, rather than restrictions, will keep COVID-19 infections in check.
Other countries - including the United States, Canada, France and Italy - already offer coronavirus vaccines to children 12 and up, but Britain has held off. It is currently inoculating people 16 and up, and almost 90 per cent of those eligible have had at least one vaccine dose.
9:50 a.m. Some 4 million students in Italy have returned to the classroom after summer break, with the Italian government determined to avoid any replay of remote learning. Schools in 10 of the nation's 20 regions began the academic year on Monday.
Students in the Alpine Alto Adige region started classes last week, and other regions, including Campania in the Naples area, begin the school year later this week.
Italian students in the last 1 1/2 years have seen relatively little in-classroom time. Starting this month, all teachers and administrative staff must have a Green Pass. That means they received at least one vaccine dose, have recovered from COVID-19 in the last six months or tested negative for the virus in the previous 48 hours.
Education Minister Patrizio Bianchi says school reopening went smoothly on Monday, with 93 per cent of teachers presenting Green Passes, and some others provided certification that they cannot be vaccinated for health reasons.
One critical area is transport. Many regions and cities have warned there aren't enough buses, including local public transport, to avoid crowding during the trips to and from school.
8:36 a.m. City of Toronto workers and TTC workers are required to show proof of vaccination as of Monday; Blue Jays fans and staff wishing to enter Rogers Centre will be required to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test starting Monday as well.
8:30 a.m. A public notice has been issued for York Region Public Health to anyone who went to either of two events for potential exposure to COVID-19.
The first event is a stag on Aug. 27 at Paramount Event Space at 222 Rowntree Dairy Rd. in Vaughan. The second event is a wedding on Aug. 28 at Royalton Hospitality at 8201 Weston Rd. in Vaughan, according to Patrick Casey, director of corporate communications.
Six confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been associated with the wedding and two confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been associated with the stag, as of Sept. 9.
If you went to the stag and/or wedding you might have been exposed to a confirmed case of COVID-19.
8:20 a.m. Guests who attended a wedding at the Capitol Banquet Centre in Mississauga on Sept. 5 are being asked to get tested for COVID-19.
Peel Public Health is advising anyone who attended the site at 6435 Dixie Rd. in Mississauga on that day to self-isolate and get tested due to potential exposure to COVID-19.
This even applies to those who are fully vaccinated.
The outbreak number for this incident is 2253-2021-46565. Those getting tested in association with this exposure should give this number to medical staff administering the COVID-19 test.
7:55 a.m. Toronto Public Health reported multiple COVID-19 cases in one East York school and two Scarborough schools on Sunday evening.
TPH identified the school settings as Fraser Mustard Early Learning Academy in Thorncliffe Park, St-Michel French Catholic Elementary School near Colonel Danforth Park and West Hill Collegiate Institute on Morningside Avenue.
They are working with the school's communities to notify affected students and their families and have asked them to stay at home and monitor for any signs or symptoms.
This isn't unexpected given COVID-19 continues to circulate in our city and how transmissible the Delta variant is," TPH tweeted. They are closely monitoring and investigating several other COVID-19 cases in their school communities.
Screening measures and self-protection work will take place," TPH tweeted. The number of cases identified has not been released.
Read the full story from the Star's Ashima Agnihotri
7:40 a.m. The road to forming government in Canada goes straight through the GTA. The centre line of that road is Toronto and its 25 federal seats.
In 2019, Justin Trudeau's Liberals eked out a minority re-election win thanks in large part to residents of Canada's biggest city, who kept all 25 seats red.
As Jagmeet Singh's New Democrats, Erin O'Toole's Conservatives and Annamie Paul's Greens all fight to breach Fortress Toronto, city residents need more help from the federal government than ever.
The pandemic has ravaged Toronto's finances. All cities are suffering, but Toronto has an almost $14-billion operating budget - bigger than those of many provinces - hit by unprecedented transit losses and homeless shelter costs.
Read the full story from the Star's Jennifer Pagliaro, Victoria Gibson, Ben Spurr and David Rider
6:51 a.m.: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to announce how his government plans to control the coronavirus during the fall and winter - hoping vaccinations, rather than restrictions, will keep COVID-19 in check.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Johnson is expected to say that mask-wearing, work-from-home advice and social distancing rules that were lifted in July could return if cases climb.
But his Conservative government is resisting tougher measures, unexpectedly shelving a plan to introduce vaccine passports for nightclubs and other crowded venues.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said Sunday that the passes, which have been introduced in many European countries and were due to start in England at the end of September, were a huge intrusion into people's lives." He said the government would keep the plan in reserve" but would not proceed with it right now.
Some experts have argued for vaccine passports as a way to encourage young people to get vaccinated, though others say compelling vaccination, rather than encouraging it, could increase hesitancy. The measure was opposed as a burdensome imposition by many in the nightlife industry, and met political resistance on civil liberties grounds from some Conservative lawmakers and the opposition Liberal Democrats.
The government's decision applies in England. Scotland, which sets its own health policy, plans to introduce vaccine passports for crowded venues next month.
5:52 a.m.: Los Angeles County has continued to struggle to reach people infected with the coronavirus as the pandemic drags on, with contract tracers interviewing only around 40 per cent of the people they were tasked with reaching during the last week of August.
That number has slumped since last summer, when contact tracers were interviewing as many as 70 per cent of the infected residents whose cases they were assigned per week.
The contact tracing system - considered a key tool in slowing the spread of the virus - has faced obstacles from the start of the pandemic, when it repeatedly faltered in containing workplace outbreaks.
Now contact tracers, who are tasked with ensuring that infected people isolate themselves, notifying others who may have been exposed and offering county resources, are finding it increasingly difficult to reach people and get them to agree to an interview.
Public health officials worry that younger people - who now make up a larger share of coronavirus infections since seniors have gotten vaccinated at higher rates - may be less likely to answer a phone call from an unfamiliar number.
Contact tracers have started texting people as well, but sometimes we call them three times in a row. We leave messages. We text them. And they call us back and tell us, Take me off your list and stop texting me,'" said Gema Morales-Meyer, who directed the case and contact interview branch of the L.A. County Department of Public Health until earlier this summer.
COVID fatigue" could also be a factor, officials say. Early in the pandemic, even if they were reluctant, they did the interview because it was so new. It was novel. People didn't know what was going on," said True Beck, a COVID-19 response manager. Now that much of L.A. has reopened and people are spending more time outside their homes, they seem less likely to pick up the phone, Beck said.
5:47 a.m.: Greece on Monday introduced mandatory weekly testing for all unvaccinated workers as it struggles to boost vaccination rates that are lagging the European Union average.
Public and private sector employees will have to pay for weekly tests or carry a vaccination certificate to gain access to their place of work, while unvaccinated children at high schools which reopened Monday are being given test kits distributed at government expense.
Similar restrictions will also apply at sports stadiums, museums and archeological sites, as well as indoor leisure areas like cinemas and restaurants.
Some 56% of Greece's residents have been fully vaccinated, while the average rate in the EU is just over 60%.
Greece has imposed vaccine mandates for health care workers and allows the vaccination of children starting at age 12.
5:46 a.m.: Britain's health secretary said Sunday that authorities have decided not to require vaccine passports for entry into nightclubs and other crowded events in England, reversing course amid opposition from some of the Conservative government's supporters in Parliament.
Sajid Javid said the government has shelved the idea of vaccine passports for now but could reconsider the decision if COVID-19 cases rise exponentially once again.
We've looked at it properly and whilst we should keep it in reserve as a potential option, I'm pleased to say that we will not be going ahead with plans for vaccine passports,'' Javid told the BBC.
The U-turn came just days after the government's vaccines minister and the culture secretary suggested that vaccine passports would still be necessary, despite growing opposition from lawmakers. Such passports are required in other European countries, like France.
In particular, members of the governing Conservative party have objected to such passports as an unacceptable burden on businesses and an infringement on residents' human rights.
5:46 a.m.: West Virginia set two daily records in the past week for positive coronavirus cases as the pandemic continues to ravage the state.
Thursday's total of confirmed cases was a record 1,738, only to be broken by Saturday's total of 1,821, according to state health data. The previous one-day high of more than 1,700 was set on Dec. 31.
The statewide total of 7,849 positive cases for the six days ending Saturday has already passed the seven-day total for the previous week, which had been the second-highest during the pandemic. Sunday's figures will be released on Monday.
The highest for one week was nearly 8,200 cases in early January, a time when virus vaccines were being offered only for people ages 65 and older.
The amount of weekly virus deaths statewide has gone up steadily since early August, when six deaths were reported for the week of Aug. 9. There have been 83 deaths in the past week and 3,207 overall.
5:45 a.m.: A southeastern Chinese province has reported 22 more COVID-19 cases, bringing the total to 43 in a fresh outbreak driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant.
Health authorities said Monday that 15 cases were confirmed in Putian city in the latest 24-hour period. Another six were found in Quanzhou city, and one more in Xiamen, suggesting the virus may be moving south from Putian.
All the infections are in Fujian province, which is across from Taiwan on China's east coast.
Schools have been closed in Putian and anyone leaving the city must have proof of a negative COVID-19 test in the previous 48 hours. The city suspended bus and train service on Saturday and has closed cinemas, bars and other facilities.
China has largely stopped the spread of COVID-19 but has sporadic outbreaks. One outbreak driven by the delta variant spread to multiple provinces in July and August, raising concern about new and more contagious variants.
5:45 a.m.: New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, will remain in the strictest type of lockdown until Sept. 21 after the government on Monday reported 33 new COVID-19 infections.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said lockdown restrictions were working to eliminate the outbreak of the highly transmissible Delta variant.
We don't want to risk the sacrifices everyone has made and all the hard work you've put in by moving to Alert Level 3 too quickly," Ardern said, referring to a relaxation of Auckland's Alert Level 4 restrictions.
The rest of New Zealand will remain on Alert Level 2 until next week because of the risk of COVID-19 spreading from Auckland, she said.
While there is an outbreak in Auckland that continues to produce cases, there is risk," Ardern said.
The nation since last month has been battling an outbreak that came from Australia. The outbreak had grown to 955 cases by Monday with 21 infected patients in hospital and four in intensive care.
The government is pursuing an unusual strategy of trying to eliminate the virus entirely.
5:45 a.m.: Health workers are visiting kebab stalls, hockey games and hardware stores across Germany in a push to reach people who have yet to get a coronavirus shot as the country's vaccination sputters.
It is part of a special weeklong vaccination drive during which people will be offered the shots without appointments at easily accessible sites listed on a national website and promoted on social media with the hashtag Hier wird geimpft," meaning Vaccinations offered here."
It's never been easier to get a vaccine," Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her weekend video address.
Germany wants 75% of the population to be immunized against the coronavirus, but so far only 62.2% of the population has received all the necessary shots.
Health Minister Jens Spahn on Monday defended growing pressure on unvaccinated people, including an end to free testing next month and - in some German states - no more sick pay for people in quarantine.
5:45 a.m.: British Columbia's COVID-19 vaccine card system is now in effect as the province aims to curtail cases and hospitalizations in the fourth wave of the pandemic.
Anyone who wants to access a range of non-essential indoor settings must show proof of at least one dose of vaccine, with a second shot required by Oct. 24.
The digital or paper vaccine card is required at settings such as ticketed sports events, concerts, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, casinos, gyms and movie theatres.
The card will not be required at grocery and liquor stores, pharmacies, fast food restaurants, salons, hotels, banks, retail stores, food banks and shelters.
Showing proof of vaccination is not required to vote in the Sept. 20 federal election.
The province says the system is in place until Jan. 31, 2022 and could be extended.
The vaccine card has spurred protests, including outside hospitals in B.C.
While some in the business community have expressed concern that would-be patrons who are upset about the vaccine card could threaten the safety of staff, Premier John Horgan has told businesses to call law enforcement if necessary.
Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba have also introduced vaccine passport programs.
The most recent update from the B.C. government showed almost 79 per cent of eligible residents over the age of 12 had received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, while more than 86 per cent had received at least one shot.
There were 5,850 active COVID-19 infections across the province on Friday, the last day for which figures were available.
5:45 a.m.: (updated) As anti-vaccine protests are planned to take place at hospitals across the country on Monday - including one at Toronto General Hospital - a provincewide nurses' association is calling for stronger protection for hospitals and health care workers.
The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) has been vocal about their condemnation of these protests, including through a press release from last week detailing the distress nurses have gone through from demonstrations at their workplaces.
The association wants to implement safe zones, which are areas where protests can't happen so that they don't clog up access to hospitals and other essential health care institutions.
Doris Grinspun, CEO of RNAO, says that these protests obstruct patients from getting into hospitals for medical care and health care workers from doing their job. Grinspun says authoritative action against such demonstrations is well overdue.