CNA News Room

https://www.cna-aiic.ca/fr/blogs/ic-contenu/2022/04/11/laiic-invite-a-la-prudence-alors-que-les-cas-de-co

April 11, 2022   — The Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) is urging all people in Canada to be cautious as COVID-19 cases rise across the country as public health restrictions are loosened.

“We understand that people just want to go back to normal and that they are tired of the pandemic. Nurses are too,” said Sylvain Brousseau, CNA president. “However, during every wave of the pandemic, it is nurses and other health-care workers that carry the burden of widespread COVID-19 cases as they deal with unbearable workloads and extreme burnout.”

For two long years, nurses and other health-care workers have been working tirelessly to keep people in Canada safe during this pandemic. Nurses continue to be mentally and physically depleted and many of them are leaving their jobs or their professions entirely. The country needs to be there again for health-care workers.

“To help us continue the fight against the virus and its new variants, as well as to help protect the most vulnerable, we ask everyone to do their part,” said Brousseau. “We strongly encourage everyone to get vaccinated and receive booster shots when eligible, to continue wearing masks in indoor public settings and washing their hands, and to practise social distancing. We also urge people to act responsibly and continue to get tested where possible and isolate if needed,” said Brousseau.

“CNA remains hopeful that Canada is better prepared to deal with new waves of COVID-19. However, we continue to see the pressures on the health-care system growing and, as a society, we all need to do what we can to protect our most vulnerable people and provide as much relief as possible to health-care workers,” said Brousseau.

When Canada’s health workforce is overworked and overburdened, there is a direct impact to the functioning and performance of the health system. Medical procedures and surgeries are delayed, wait times increase, emergency departments are scaled back or even closed, and we endanger the capacity to effectively care for the most vulnerable in our population.

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About the Canadian Nurses Association

CNA is the national and global professional voice of Canadian nursing. We represent registered nurses, nurse practitioners, licensed and registered practical nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, retired nurses, and nursing students across all 13 provinces and territories.

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