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 October 2, 2020.

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

CDA’s COVID-19 Team Lead, Dr. Aaron Burry, Associate Director for Professional Affairs, provides a video update on trends and case growth related to COVID-19 across Canada and in other parts of the world. Click on the image below to view the video discussion.

Video Length: 14 minutes. Recorded: September 30, 2020.

Key Points from Video:

Upswing in Canada:

• Canada’s COVID-19 situation over the last two-week period is concerning. Canada is experiencing a full resurgence with an uptick in COVID-19 cases that is driven by change in human behaviour, rather than a characteristic of the virus.
• The decline in maintaining social distancing, not wearing masks during gatherings, and not isolating after travel to other communities are all driving the increase.
• The COVID-19 pandemic is a fluid situation. If behaviours do not change, case growth will continue to rise.

Lockdowns Approaching:

• Current hot spots are seeing targeted lockdowns, specifically in areas where there are high levels of socializing (e.g., restaurants, bars, other gathering places) and measures are being taken to avoid the spread of infection.

Dentistry to Remain Serious and Vigilant:

• The good news is that dentistry has demonstrated that dental offices can offer care safely and that infection prevention and control practices are effective, allowing oral health care provision during the pandemic.
• Dentists and dental teams are infection control experts and have always followed strict protocols and procedures to protect patients and staff. With added COVID-19 guidelines, dentists are doing everything possible to put additional levels of protection in place to create a safe environment for their patients and the dental team.
• Although there has been no patient/provider infections associated with dental offices in Canada, dental offices should be reminded of the importance of maintaining social distancing, both inside and outside the operatory, to maintain screening protocols, and to continue taking the pandemic seriously.

Update on Testing:

• Point-of-care tests are being approved and deployed now in Canada. These tests are primarily targeted to settings where outbreaks are likely to occur, and where everyone in the same setting needs to be tested, such as in long-term care (LTC) facilities.
• Point-of-care tests generally have high “false positive” results, however, in these LTC settings, testing is an important tool in containing the spread. Please refer to the video for more details.

Learnings for Dentistry: Testing

Growing research shows that individuals will likely only have a positive test result, some 2 to 5 days after exposure meaning people can be become infective shortly following a negative test or the period between tests.

This underscores the importance of the precautions and protocols that are place in dental offices and points out a weakness in a reliance solely on testing as an indicator or way to prevent spread. There continues to be a critical need to practice these public health measures:

• social distancing;
• limiting the number of people that you come in contact with;
• avoiding indoor locations with large number of people; and
• using masks.

Advocacy

Update! Federal Government Programs and Initiatives: Since the return of Parliament last week, several changes have been announced or enacted to federal government programs.

• Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB): This program concluded on September 26, 2020. Those who are eligible and still seeking financial support from a job loss due to COVID can apply for Employment Insurance, and can receive $500 per week, equivalent to the CERB.
• A new Canada Recovery Benefit has been introduced for workers who are self-employed or are not eligible for EI, who still require income support, and who are available and actively looking for work (important). This program includes the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB), for those who are sick or who must self-isolate, and the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB), for those who are unable to work because they must care for children or dependents. The legislation enacting this program passed through the House of Commons this week, and is moving quickly in the Senate.
  
  Language in the enacting legislation states that individuals who have “failed to return to their employment when it was reasonable to do so” or who have “declined a reasonable offer to work” would not be eligible for these new benefits.
• Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS): The Throne Speech announced that the Federal wage subsidy will be extended to September 2021, under the new rules unveiled in July 2020 that allowed more businesses to qualify.
• Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA): The Throne Speech announced changes forthcoming to the CEBA, noting that this would help businesses to deal with “fixed costs.” It has been speculated that this could include supports for rent that had been previously dealt with in the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program. There are also indications that businesses that used a personal bank account as their primary business account could become eligible. CDA has asked for the amount of the CEBA to be doubled to $80,000, with up to half of that amount being forgivable.
• Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA): The CECRA program concluded this week, with the government promising to replace it. No announcements have been made as to how a follow-up program would function or roll out. CDA has expressed a need to devise a program that deals directly with the tenants, and which does not require the landlord’s involvement.

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.

Reminder! CDA Essentials, Issue 5 is available online.

Mental Health and Wellness:

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to place strain on individuals and families across the country. It’s important to safeguard your mental health and overall wellness.

Access mental health and wellness support through CDSPI’s Members’ Assistance Program (MAP) via social media, its Help Desk service, and on its website. MAP can be accessed by calling 1.844.578.4040 or visiting www.workhealthlife.com.

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:

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

Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology

• Article: Hand hygiene during COVID-19: Recommendations from the American Contact Dermatitis Society (published July 21, 2020, added to CDA repository October 1, 2020)

Provincial Dental Association / Regulatory Body Resources:

British Columbia Dental Association

• BCDA Member Update (October 2, 2020): Staff Shortage in COVID-19; New Gov’t Benefits; Windows Server Security Patch; Awards Nominations; BC Election; and more.
• BCDA Member Update (September 29, 2020): Member COVID-19 Survey Results, Office Posters, and more
• BCDA Member Update (September 24, 2020): Dental Staff Recruitment; BCDA’s Partnership with Dyson Extended!; COVID-19 Translated Office Entrance Signs Now Available; Upcoming Provincial Election October 24 – How to Vote-by-Mail; Important Reminder: Please participate in BCDA Surveys; BCCDC COVID-19 Case Surveillance Maps; and more.
• BCDA Member Update (September 22, 2020): Provincial Government Economic Recovery Plan; BCDA's Annual Leadership Conference - Session #1 Thursday; Dentist Wellness Program Peer Support Session; and Canadian Dental Association Weekly Update

New Brunswick Dental Society

• Bi-Weekly Update (October 1, 2020): Canada Trends Tour; Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy Extension; CDA Oasis discussions; and more.

Newfoundland & Labrador Dental Association

• NLDA COVID-19 UPDATE (September 30, 2020); 50 DAYS until the Virtual Oral Health Convention; Meet the Students; and RBC - Estate Planning in a COVID 19 Environment.

Ontario Dental Association

• Weekly COVID-19 Update (September 30, 2020): Advocacy Progress: Dentists Added to Government PPE List; Last Day to Renew Your ODA Membership!; COVID-19 Testing in Dental Offices; Ontario Experiencing "Second Surge" of COVID-19; Stock Up on PPE; Access Public COVID-19 Resources; and more.
• ODA Member Update (September 29, 2020): Preparing you for the next wave
• Weekly COVID-19 Update (September 23, 2020): New Member Resource: Sample Respiratory Protection Program; New Version of Employment Standard Poster; Ontario’s Minimum Wage Set to Increase; COVID-19 Reference Document Updated; Cases Rising in Ontario – Stay Vigilant; Podcast: Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy 2.0 – Highlights for Dentists; CDA Advocates for Access to Vaccines; and more.

National Resources:

Health Canada

• What’s new on the COVID-19 Health Product Industry Website (October 2, 2020)

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.