UNA urges members to remain vigilant to protect against COVID-19 and Influenza

As respiratory virus season is upon us and the number of cases and outbreaks of COVID-19 continue to rise, we urge our members to remain vigilant to protect themselves against COVID-19 and influenza.

We strongly recommend to all our members to be immunized against influenza and COVID-19 to protect themselves, their patients, and especially vulnerable population such as the elderly and young children.

UNA supports the Enhanced Masking Directive introduced by AHS last week. This directive applies to all AHS and APL staff at acute care facilities, as well as Covenant Health and Lamont Health Care Centre.  This directive supports zone and site leadership to determine if enhanced masking for staff is necessary. This decision is to be based on a local assessment of several factors including hospitalizations, number of outbreaks, occupancy, and test positivity. In a meeting with AHS last week, UNA called on AHS to take additional steps including:

• Where enhanced masking is implemented, masking should also be required for designated support persons and visitors in all areas of the facility, not just in the emergency department.
• This directive should apply to all AHS sites/programs not just acute care facilities, e.g. community programs and stand-alone continuing care sites. 
• Screeners should be re-introduced at sites to help support and ensure visitor and designated support person compliance with this directive, so the burden does not fall to front line clinical staff to enforce.
• The decision to implement enhanced masking should be made in consultation with the Joint Workplace Health and Safety Committee (JWHSC) for a site, which includes both worker and employer representatives. Under Part 2 of Alberta’s OHS Act, JWHSCs are empowered to “[make] recommendations to the employer respecting the health and safety of workers.” We encourage our Locals and members to initiate these discussions at your JWHSC.

UNA wants to remind our members that the Joint Statement: COVID-19 and Personal Protective Equipment remains in effect with AHS and Covenant Health. This agreement guarantees your access to the necessary PPE, including fit-tested N95 respirators, based on a Point of Care Risk Assessment.

UNA strongly supports the recommendations found in the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) COVID-19 Fall 2023 Statement including “calling on both the federal and provincial governments to take proactive steps, including widespread public education to combat vaccine disinformation, to protect the safety of health care workers and the health of Canadians”