Page - 18 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

VULNERABLE18 generally did not understand its obligations under worker safety laws and regulations. There was a lack of understanding of occupational safety as a discipline separate from infection control.”71 Nurses, doc- tors, and other health workers constituted the largest single group of SARS cases, unlike with COVID-19. Therefore, training in safety protocols and provision of PPE in the health sector was a focus of the Campbell Report, emphasizing the precautionary principle “that safety comes first, that reasonable efforts to reduce risk need not await scientific proof.”72 COVID-19 has put a spotlight on the workforce in different ways. The largest outbreaks have been linked to crowded workplaces; inadequate infection control; shortages of PPE; and eco- nomic, political, and emotional incentives to continue working despite illness.73 Long-term care homes have been a major site of outbreaks, as low wages force workers to take shifts at multiple facilities, risking spread of the disease. The essays in this section of the book explore a range of intersec- tions between the workforce and COVID-19, including privatization of health care, occupational health and safety, and the duties owed to and by health workers.74 We also include a chapter about a COVID-19 outbreak in a group home for adults with disabilities to illustrate the reality of the day-to-day fight against COVID disease. The section also provides an international perspective on labour issues, using the framework of the global food supply chain. Equity and COVID-19 While COVID-19 has had widespread health, economic, and social impacts, some groups have been disproportionately affected both by the disease and by the measures taken to contain its spread.75 The increased vulnerability of certain populations to COVID-19, such as people with disabilities, the elderly, women, people living in pov- erty or experiencing homelessness, and racialized and Indigenous 71. The SARS Commission, Spring  of  Fear, vol 1 (Toronto: The SARS Commission, December 2006) (The Honourable Justice Archie Campbell) at 22, online: The Archives of Ontario <http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/e_records/sars/report/ index.html>. 72. Ibid, at 14, volume 2. 73. For a discussion of the causes of outbreaks in the workplace, see Lippel, this volume, Chapter E-3; Berger Richardson, this volume, Chapter E-5. 74. Vanessa Gruben & Louise Bélanger-Hardy, this volume, Chapter E-4. 75. Sridhar Venkatapuram, this volume, Chapter D-1.