Page - 479 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

479Occupational Health and Safety and COVID-19: Whose Rights Come First in a Pandemic? Although compensation boards provide guidance online,22 proving that COVID-19 was contracted at work is difficult in a pandemic. The Ontario Federation of Labour has asked for the creation of a presumption that will facilitate compensation;23 WorkSafe BC is currently studying this option,24 but nothing has been mentioned by the Ontario authorities to date and acceptance rates seem lower than those in Quebec, with only 513 accepted claims, 164 denied, and 2,807 pending as of May 11, 2020, statistics representing all sectors.25 In Quebec, a key informant from a union in the health care sector reported that as of May 3, 2020, regarding compensation claims from that sector, 1,007 had been accepted, 15 had been denied, and 730 were pending. Yet she also shared that in just two of the 18 regional health care authorities there had been 1,562 cases of COVID-19, suggesting that underreporting was rampant. On April 23, the Premier reported that over 9,500 health care providers were absent, 4,000 because of a COVID-19 diagnosis; those absent because of mental health diagnoses were left unmentioned by the authorities when they requested that those not suffering from COVID-19 come back to work.26 Structural gaps become evident in a pandemic. Workers are at risk when getting to work by public transport, but injury occurring while the worker travels to work is not compensable in any Canadian jurisdiction.27 Workers with health conditions found to increase the likelihood of dying from COVID-19 are not eligible for workers’ 22. “Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update” (last visited 10 May 2020), online: Workplace  Safety  and  Insurance  Board <https://www.wsib.ca/en/novel-coronavirus- covid-19-update> [Workplace Safety and Insurance Board 2020]; “Questions et réponses-COVID-19” (last visited 23 May 2020), online: Commission des normes, de l’équité  de  la  santé  et  de  la  sécurité  du  travail <https://www.cnesst.gouv.qc.ca/salle-de- presse/covid-19/Pages/coronavirus.aspx?oft_id=3363899&oft_k=2UCJpvJj&oft_ lk=IgNHUU&oft_d=637243765664600000#question-retour-malade>. 23. Sara Mojtehedzadeh, “Province Urged to Make Workers’ Compensation Auto- matic for Essential Employees Diagnosed with COVID-19”, The Star (6 April 2020), online: <https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/04/06/province-urged-to- make-workers-compensation-automatic-for-essential-employees-diagnosed- with-covid-19.html>. 24. “WorkSafe BC Looking at Presumption for COVID-19 Claims” (30 April 2020), online: WorkSafe  BC <https://www.worksafebc.com/en/about-us/news-events/ news-releases/2020/April/worksafebc-looking-at-presumption-for-covid-19- claims>. 25. Workplace Safety and Insurance Board 2020, supra note 22. 26. Hugo Pilon-Larose, “9500 personnes absentes du réseau de la santé Québécois”, La Presse (23 April 2020), online: <https://www.lapresse.ca/covid-19/202004/23/01- 5270584-9500-personnes-absentes-du-reseau-de-la-sante-quebecois.php>. 27. Katherine Lippel & David Walters, “Regulating Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation in Canada for the Mobile Workforce: Now You See Them, Now