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A Message for CDA Corporate Member Provincial Dental Associations
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Below is a snapshot of the Canadian Dental Association’s (CDA) pandemic work for the week ending June 05, 2020.
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This Week’s Fast Facts: COVID-19 Situational Report
- At this point in time, there are approximately 6.4 million cases world-wide. This represents a 30% increase in the past two weeks.
- In the United States, there has been a 20% increase in cases in the past two weeks, with a 5.7% mortality rate.
- In Canada, there has been a 17% increase in cases in the past two weeks with an 8% mortality rate largely due to outbreaks in health care settings, long-term care facilities, food processing plants, etc.
- The “hot spots” continue to be Quebec and Ontario, with Quebec representing 63% of all deaths in Canada and Ontario representing 31% of all deaths in Canada.
- Ontario continues to see well over 300 new cases per day and as a result, the Premier has extended the state of emergency to the end of June. This increase is considered a resurgence rather than a second wave of the virus.
- The Government of Canada is anticipating a second wave, likely in the Fall, and are stock piling personal protective equipment (PPE).
- The prospect of new medications, advanced testing and a vaccine to address the virus are not on the immediate horizon.
- For the dental profession, there needs to be continued vigilance regarding the screening and pre-screening of patients.
- The Public Health Agency of Canada’s response to the pandemic seems to be moving from a crisis response to one of long-term management.
Reminders!
- Non-medical masks for general population: The Chief Public Health Officer of Canada is still recommending non-medical masks for the general population in situations where maintaining a two-metre social distancing is difficult. It has also been recommended that patients wear masks while in the dental office.
- Common area contact tracing: Outbreaks in common areas, such as lunchrooms, washrooms, remain a concern. Individuals are reminded not to let their guard down. Continue to take all necessary precautions, including disinfecting common area surfaces, including counters, door handles, faucets, sinks and toilets, and respect the need to socially distance to avoid the spread of the virus.
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Update: TripleGuardTM Insurance Pandemic Coverage
Below is a snapshot on the receipt and payment of pandemic insurance claims processed by AVIVA:
- 7,129 claims have been reported;
- 2,838 claims remain open;
- 4,653 full or partial payments have been made; and
- 4,233 claims have been settled
CDSPI has contacted approximately 230 dentists who have coverage but who have not submitted a claim. Based on the current data available, if all goes according to plan, all claims may be settled within a month. CDA will report any further updates as information becomes available. For the latest information, please check out the FAQs on CDSPI’s website, last updated on June 1, 2020.
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Update: National laboratory testing indication guidance for COVID-19
This week during a meeting with the Public Health Agency of Canada, Dr. Teresa Tam, Canada's Chief Public Health Officer (CPHO), reviewed changes made to the National laboratory testing indication guidance for COVID-19. Developments that justified revising the guidance included:
- Expanded laboratory resources;
- Viral transmission from asymptomatic individuals or individuals in the pre-symptomatic phase;
- Outbreaks in congregate living and work settings; and
- New testing modalities (molecular Point of Care and serological tests).
The guidance underlines the need to include epidemiological considerations when interpreting test result as they can affect the chances of false positive and negative results.
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Update: USC&LS Service Codes for the provision of additional PPE
Following consultations with the provincial associations who use the USC&LS for their fee guide, CDA has approved two new fee-for-service codes for provision of enhanced PPE materials during a pandemic. One code is for the PPE required for non-aerosol generating procedures and the second is for the PPE required for aerosol generating procedures. Insurance companies advised that these fee-for-service codes are the most likely to be covered by insurance plans.
These codes are not to be used for the additional time dentists require to use these materials (donning and doffing) or the additional time required to see the patient. Corporate Member PDAs have been notified that these codes are immediately available for use in their fee guides.
Adjudicating claims: Claims that include these codes can be transmitted with CDAnet and insurance companies will be able to adjudicate those claims as soon as they make the necessary adjustments to their adjudication systems. However, at this point in time, it remains uncertain if plan sponsors will agree to cover the costs of these new service codes. Decisions on whether to reimburse these costs will be made by insurance companies on a plan-by-plan basis, and in collaboration with the plan sponsors.
Upcoming: CDA is aware that the time to provide dental treatments has increased under the provincial return to work protocols. Discussions with CHLIA are ongoing. Upcoming talks will focus on the time needed by dentists to accommodate new materials and other related costs to dentists. CDA will report any updates as new information becomes available.
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CDA’s Return to Practice Task Force (The Task Force):
The Task Force includes representatives from all Corporate Member PDAs. The Task Force will now meet bi-weekly to discuss deliverables for:
- information exchange on return-to-practice status across the country;
- strategies for obtaining and securing PPEs; and
- communications to the public on dentists returning to practice.
Updated: Version 2 of Return-to-Practice Office Manual Released
The French version of Version 1 of the manual is available, as well as Version 2 of the English manual. Both a “tracked changes” and clean version of the English manual have been provided to Corporate Member PDAs last week.
Upcoming: The Task Force will work on developing a tip sheet for dentists, including information on how to extend the life of PPE.
Reminder: The Task Force continues to review and prioritize its list of deliverables. Any specific expectations or special requests of the Task Force should be fed forward by Corporate Member PDAs to their PDA member Task Force representative.
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Knowledge and Information Broker:
CDA Oasis is CDA’s primary channel of communication for delivering urgent information to the dental community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
CDA Oasis produces a series of video interviews with members of the CDA Board, CDA’s COVID-19 Team, and other relevant subject matter experts. The following video was published this week:
- Naloxone – The Eighth Drug in the Dental Emergency Kit?:
Though we may not be reading about it in the news, we are still seeing a significant number of overdose deaths associated with opioids, both licit and illicit. In this conversation, Dr. Mark Donaldson speaks about the opioid antagonist Naloxone; and explains why dentists should consider including it in the Dental Emergency Kit. (Jun 2)
This week’s CDA Oasis Bulletin collated relevant and timely “news that you can use” related to COVID-19.
Reminder: CDA Essentials Issue 3 is available online.
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Mental Health and Wellness:
With the COVID-19 pandemic placing significant strain on individuals and families across the country, it’s more important than ever to safeguard your mental health and overall wellness.
Mental health is affected by numerous factors from daily life, including the stress of balancing work with your health and relationships. The Canadian Mental Health Association provides a range of resources to help you stay mentally fit and healthy, including the following:
Wellness Together Canada also connects Canadians to peer support workers, social workers, psychologists and other professionals for confidential chat sessions or phone calls, and will make it easier to find credible information and help address mental health and substance use issues.
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Free counselling, referral and information service for dentists, dental office employees, and their families.
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CDA Help Desk:
CDA’s Help Desk continues to assist dentists and dental office employees on how to navigate and access federal government support programs.
For assistance, please call 1-866-232-0385, M-F, 7:30 A.M. – 8:00 p.m. EDT.
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Advocacy Updates
New! Federal Government to Transfer $14B to Provinces to Assist in Safe Reopening
The Federal Government will propose a significant offer of $14 Billion in new funding to the provinces today to safely help open economies. The anticipated offer of these transfers would be conditional on provinces spending the funds in areas to help address the challenges of COVID-19, and to help prevent a second wave of the virus.
Some areas the Federal Government wants the provinces to address include the health care system, as well as PPE, testing, contact tracing, and possibly addressing issues in long-term care facilities. Negotiations with the provinces on implementing this agreement will begin immediately.
At his daily media availability, Prime Minister Trudeau also noted that some of these funds would be earmarked to allow provinces to fund 10 paid sick days for employees.
New! Unemployment Reaches Record High
The unemployment rate reached 13.7% in May 2020, the highest recorded level by Statistics Canada, according to their monthly Labour Force Survey, released today. This rate was at 5.6% in February.
The labour underutilization rate was 34.8% for May, a slight improvement on the 36.6% in April. This figure captures those who were unemployed; those who were not in the labour force but who wanted a job and did not look for one; and those who were employed but worked less than half of their usual hours.
There were 290,000 new jobs added to the economy last month. The unemployment rate rose, however, as more people began to seek employment.
Update: Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)
CDA continues to convey concerns surrounding the administration of the CEWS program to the office of the Finance Minister. These concerns include the administration of the Program, especially in how the CRA has stated it views cost-sharing agreements and partnerships. CDA is working with other groups on this issue, and will report further updates as they become available.
Reminder! CDA to Present to Federal Health Committee
CDA has formally been invited to present to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health as part of its ongoing study on the impacts of COVID-19. CDA will present to the committee on Wednesday, June 10, at 4:30 p.m.
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CDA COVID-19 Repository at a Glance:
New resources added!
CDA serves as a COVID-19 Repository for Corporate Member PDAs by collecting advice and available COVID-19 resources from external organizations and any sources that PDAs wish to share. The information is placed in the Repository and is exclusively available for use by the PDAs, for onward transmission to their respective dentist members, as deemed appropriate.
For quick reference, the following materials have been added to the Repository this week. For the complete resource listing, please log in to view them all. Login details on how to access the Repository are below.
Dental Schools, Research, Journal Articles and Continuing Education Resources:
(CDC) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Webinar recording: Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) Associated with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Learn about the clinical characteristics of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, how cases have been diagnosed and treated, and how clinicians are responding to recently reported cases associated with COVID-19.
International Resources:
American Dental Association:
Mental Health and Wellness Resources:
Government of Canada
National Resources:
Canadian Dental Association
- Naloxone – The Eighth Drug in the Dental Emergency Kit?:
Though we may not be reading about it in the news, we are still seeing a significant number of overdose deaths associated with opioids, both licit and illicit. In this conversation, Dr. Mark Donaldson speaks about the opioid antagonist Naloxone; and explains why dentists should consider including it in the Dental Emergency Kit. (Jun 2)
Provincial Dental Association / Regulatory Body Resources:
British Columbia Dental Association
Dental Association of PEI
Newfoundland & Labrador Dental Association
Nova Scotia Dental Association:
Ontario Dental Association
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Access to COVID-19 Repository: PDA Executive Directors, Corporate Member Presidents and select staff, and CDA Board Members have access to the CDA COVID-19 Repository via the CDA Board Resource Website.
The link to access the CDA COVID-19 Repository: https://boardresources.ca/covid/.
Log-in: Please use your existing CDA Board Resources login credentials to access the COVID-19 Repository.
If you have trouble logging in, or require a login for someone in your organization who would like access, please email Dean Smith, CDA Manager of Information Technology, dsmith@cda-adc.ca.
Share: To include your organization’s resources in the COVID-19 Repository, please email Zelda Burt, CDA Communications Manager, zburt@cda-adc.ca.
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The CDA COVID-19 Response Team works diligently on a range of fronts to help minimize and mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on the dental profession. CDA is working to address scientific, clinical, economic and business-related matters impacting dentistry, including efforts to increase awareness about the mental health and wellness of dentists, their families and dental office employees during these challenging times. CDA will communicate regular updates as new information becomes available.
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