Ontario hints at paid sick leave
• Premier Doug Ford’s government said Tuesday it was considering a paid sick-leave program for essential workers amid warnings from its own science advisers that hospitals were “buckling” under the weight of COVID-19.
Public health experts and labour groups have been saying for months that COVID-19 is spreading in workplaces, with essential workers bearing the brunt of the third wave of the pandemic.
In a scathing statement, the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table said Tuesday the province is now facing “the most challenging health crisis of our time.”
“Our hospitals are buckling. Younger people are getting sicker. The disease is ripping through whole families,” the group said, calling for stronger measures to control the pandemic.
The warning came as Toronto and Peel Region said they would temporarily close businesses with recent outbreaks in an effort to protect tens of thousands of essential workers.
Both public health units said they would order businesses with five or more linked cases in the past two weeks to shut down for 10 days. During that time, workers would have to self-isolate.
The Ford government has frequently refused to offer sick days to essential workers, saying a federal program already exists.
In the last two days, Ford’s Progressive Conservatives have shot down Opposition motions on the issue of paid sick days and the closing of more non-essential businesses. But in a sudden change of course, Health Minister Christine Elliott said Tuesday the government was looking into the possibility of a provincial paid sick day program.
“It was apparent yesterday ... that (the federal Liberals) weren’t making any amendments to their sick benefits program and so those gaps still remain,” Elliott said in the legislature. “That is what we are going to be addressing.”
Peel Region’s top doctor urged employers ordered to shut down to provide paid sick leave “in the absence of legislated paid sick days.”
Toronto’s public health unit said it will issue its order by Friday, while Peel said businesses could be told to close as early as Friday, and those affected will be contacted directly.
Peel said health-care businesses, first responders, critical infrastructure, and emergency childcare will be exempt from closure. A full list of businesses not impacted will be provided.
COVID cases continued to rise Tuesday — with 3,469 new cases and 22 more deaths reported — as residents 40 and older became eligible to get the Oxford-astrazeneca vaccine at pharmacies and doctors’ offices. The province said 20 Shoppers Drug Mart locations in the GTA would soon start offering vaccinations to people aged 40 and older 24 hours a day, seven days a week starting on Wednesday.