A Message for CDA Corporate Member Provincial Dental Associations

Below is a snapshot of the Canadian Dental Association’s (CDA) pandemic work for the week ending June 26, 2020.

This Week’s Fast Facts: COVID-19 Situational Report

• Currently, there are approximately 9.7 million cases worldwide. This is an approximate increase of 12% of new cases compared to recent averages, which is approaching 15% every week.
• In the United States (U.S.), the number of cases currently exceeds 2.5 million. There is a concerning resurgence in the U.S. and case growth for this week, which again exceeds 13% when most western countries have minimal new case growth. Florida continues to report record number of single-day cases. This spike is associated with the May long weekend, decreased compliance with public health social distancing recommendations, and more infections following group gatherings. States such as Arizona are reporting reaching 80% of hospital capacity. In comparison, Ontario saw 30 new cases per million per day at its peaks, while Arizona currently exceeds 170 new cases per million per day, and Florida exceeds 80 new cases per million per day.
• In Canada, there has been a 1% increase in new cases (lowest since early March) in the past week, with an 8.2% mortality rate largely due to outbreaks in health care settings, long-term care facilities, food processing plants, etc. with Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec still experiencing new cases.
• The situation in Quebec and Ontario has improved significantly and these provinces are finally reporting minimal new daily cases in most regions, with fewer deaths related to COVID-19. In Canada, Quebec represents 64% of all COVID-related deaths and Ontario 31%.
• Ontario currently sees under 180 new cases per day. A number under 200 was the benchmark set by the Chief Medical Officer for further reopening of the economy in the province. Other Provinces are cautiously proceeding the next phases of lifting restrictions based on the improved situation.
• The Government of Canada is preparing for a second wave, likely this Fall, and are stockpiling personal protective equipment (PPE).
• 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 has moved from a crisis response to one of long-term management.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE):

Federal Government Initiatives:
The Government of Canada continues to work closely with partners to ensure Canadians have access to the information, resources and supplies that they need to stay safe and healthy in response to COVID-19.

CDA continues to monitor PPE stock supplies, but it appears that the gaps between orders made at the federal level and orders received are getting wider. CDA anticipates that the next PPE shortages will be for surgical masks, gowns and potentially gloves. A recent announcement indicated that all NATO countries will immediately be stock piling PPE for a potential second wave, which will place additional strains on supplies of PPE. CDA will report new information as it becomes available.

U.S. vs. Canadian N95 Stock:
It continues to be difficult for Canada to secure N95 respirators from suppliers the U.S. because these products are not allowed to be exported to Canada. Hospitals and other health care facilities in the U.S. have priority to rebuild their stock in efforts to be more prepared for a potential second wave of COVID-19 in the Fall.

CDA’s Return to Practice Task Force (The Task Force):

The Task Force includes representatives from all Corporate Member PDAs. The Task Force meets bi-weekly to discuss deliverables for:

1. information exchange on return-to-practice status across the country;
2. strategies for obtaining and securing PPEs; and
3. communications to the public on dentists returning to practice.

Upcoming: Tips on Extending the Life of PPE
To assist the Task Force in its work, CDA Oasis is in the process of putting together a video series with dentists from across the country related to their experiences in return to practice; tips on how to extend the life of PPE in their part of the country; and stories of small companies helping dentists to be creative in managing the PPE shortage. The series will also explore dentists' return to practice processes; how they prepared their staff; and patient communications. CDA Oasis has over 16 dentists lined up to be interviewed, with some already completed. The recruiting process is continuing. As such, should Corporate Member PDAs have a dentist in mind to be interviewed for this series, please forward details to Dr. Chiraz Guessaier. Stay tuned for more information.

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.

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.

This week’s CDA Oasis Bulletin collated relevant and timely “news that you can use” related to COVID-19.

New! CDA Essentials Issue 4 is available online. Content specific to COVID-19 includes the President’s Column, CDA at Work, N95 Respirators Guide, Your COVID-19 Questions Answered, Using Teledentistry to Reach Patients, Helping the Community in the Early Days, and Supporting Dentists During the Pandemic. Read these articles and more.

Mental Health and Wellness:

With the ever-evolving events around the COVID-19 pandemic, we are all experiencing varying degrees of a normal reaction to an abnormal event. In times of high anxiety and stress, it’s more important than ever to safeguard your mental wellness.

The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) offers credible information and resources about maintaining mental health during this difficult time.

Visit the MHCC’s Resource Hub to find out what’s new, review mental health resources in response to COVID-19 (tip sheets; posters; webinars), get links to provincial mental health resources and workplace resources, and more.

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.

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

Nature Medicine Research:

• Clinical and immunological assessment of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS):

• Study: Rationing social contact during the COVID-19 pandemic: Transmission risk and social benefits of US locations. Data crunchers at MIT analyzed 26 categories of businesses by a dozen metrics for necessity and crowdedness, determining that banks, dentists, colleges, and universities are the “most essential and safest” businesses to visit during the pandemic. (Jun 10, 2020)

Provincial Dental Association / Regulatory Body Resources:

British Columbia Dental Association

• June 23, 2020 Member Update: Monthly Survey to Track COVID-19 Impact on Dental Practices; Dentist Wellness Program Peer Support Sessions; and more.

Dental Association of PEI

• Phase 4 notice to members (Jun 26): Protocol 4 (Jun 26); Clearing the Air (of Aerosols) – For COVID Positive or COVID suspected patients you do not want to re-book or are not able to

New Brunswick Dental Society

• Covid-19 screening update (Jun 19)

Newfoundland & Labrador Dental Association

• COVID-19 Member Update (Jun 24): PPE Code; Changes to the Return to Full Practice Plan; Upcoming CDA social media campaign; and more.

Nova Scotia Dental Association:

• Revised President's letter #15 for COVID-19 update (Jun 24)
• Letter by Dr. Kevin Orrell, Nova Scotia's deputy minister of health offering NSDA members no-cost access to provincial PPE supplies. (Jun 19)
• NSDA News Brief (Jun 19): Updated NSDA Return to Practice Manual; Return-to-Practice Patient Communication Materials for Members

Ontario Dental Association

• Your Weekly COVID-19 Update (Jun 24): Toronto and Peel Region Move to Stage 2; Dental Guidance Discrepancies; The Push for PPE; Clarity on Disposable Surgical Masks; ASM20 Goes Virtual; CDA Gets Action on CERCA; CDA Update; and more.

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.

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.