With recent numbers revealing an alarming uptick in Canada, the country is bracing for a new chapter in the pandemic
It now seems inevitable that the country will face a second wave of COVID-19 after other countries around the world have started reporting a new spike in cases. The question is no longer if, but when.
According to a report from The Canadian Press, Quebec saw 471 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, a marked rise from the lower number of cases this summer.
“We noticed that the start of this second wave is not all like the first wave,” said Christian Dubé, Quebec’s health minister, on Tuesday. This was a day after Dr. Horacio Arruda, Quebec’s public health director, declared that the second wave of the pandemic had begun in the province.
Quebec was the hardest hit province during the first wave of the pandemic.
Other provinces are also seeing an uptick in cases. Ontario reported 335 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said yesterday that Canada has seen an average of 1,123 new COVID-19 cases each day over the last week, compared to an average of 380 daily reported cases in August.
Young people at risk
During the initial outbreak, agricultural environments, long-term care homes and corrections facilities seemed to bear the brunt of the virus. With schools re-opening, and new outbreaks being declared every week, it seems as if schools may become new viral transmission centres.
This is despite provinces putting into place measures to guarantee the safety of students and teachers.
In addition, a recent CBC report details that in Quebec, whilst during the first wave the vast majority of deaths occurred in long-term care homes, during this current wave it seems as if the virus is being more widely transmitted through community spread – notably through younger Canadians.
Indeed, recently the Public Healthy Agency of Canada revealed that people aged 20 to 29 accounted for the largest proportion of cases.
Flu season increases worry
On Tuesday, Ontario’s premier Doug Ford said in a briefing that “We know that a second wave is coming, we know that it will be more complicated than the first wave, we know it will be more challenging on the system. What we don’t know is how bad it will be, how hard we will get hit. Because that’s up to all of us, we all have a part to play.”
Ford also said that the upcoming flu season may complicate things further. The premier has announced the rollout of a large-scale flu immunization campaign in Ontario. The province has ordered over five million flu vaccine doses, including 1.3 million high-dose vaccines for seniors, to help manage flu season. These shots will be available in the next few weeks.
This is just one part of the province’s plan to deal with a potential second wave, more details of which will be released in upcoming days and will most likely include increased testing and recruitment of frontline, essential workers.
How workplaces can prepare
With all this said, workplace should be better prepared than during the first wave. Indeed, we are better prepared this time around, and have a more informed view of the virus and how to limit its spread. In preparation, COS looks to past expert advice to keep in mind over the next few months.
1. Do not succumb to pandemic fatigue. With the lower number of cases over the summer, it almost felt as if the pandemic was over. This may account for the recent resurgence in cases. The pandemic has been raging for six months, and early enthusiasm around adhering to strict guidelines may be waning. But this is not the time to give up, especially with the onset of flu season.
2. Keep in mind employees’ mental health. Mental health has been a huge concern over the last few months, notably depression. It is important to keep this in mind both during the pandemic, and afterwards too.
3. Stay up to date with federal and provincial guidelines. This can be confusing, as these are very often changing. But it is important to keep updated, and to communicate these changes with employees and their families. Keep in touch with employees through fit-to-work assessments and surveys.
4. Invest in PPE and increased sanitization measures. This includes looking into tech solutions that can help alleviate the pressures of the pandemic, learning about air circulation and ventilation, protecting employees during business travel, testing, tracing and isolating in the workplace, and looking into creating a business continuity plan to safeguard the future of the company.
This also potentially means looking to keeping employees working from home longer than initially planned, and investing in ergonomic solutions for workers.
