Seite - 461 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

461Privatization and COVID-19: A Deadly Combination for Nursing Homes workers to move in close to residents and to each other, whether or not they are providing personal care. Curtains do not protect resi- dents from witnessing the death of others sharing their room. Spaces to accommodate and commemorate death are critical but mostly non-existent. Shared washrooms, especially down the hall, put an extra bur- den and risk on staff. Many homes have no extra room for quaran- tine in light of admission policies that push homes to fill all rooms as quickly as possible, in hours rather than days. Dining rooms are often crowded, leaving very little space among residents and staff or between tables. Outdoor spaces are often locked, in part because there is not enough staff to keep watch. The only TVs and computers are often in shared spaces. Many homes have only small, cramped spaces for staff to get away for the respite that is especially necessary now. Sharing these spaces translates into close contact among workers. Similarly, the way laundry is physically located, shared, and organized has an impact on infection and other risks for both resi- dents and workers.39 If it is collected in hallways before being shipped out to a service, it can constitute a particular risk of transmission, especially in these times. Food services that are contracted out, with the workers and the food itself imported from outside the home, may involve workers moving from floor to floor. These workers may not have special infection training or PPE. Another obvious working condition is access to equipment, including but not limited to PPE. Those working in long-term care have the highest rates of absences due to illness and injury of any industry, in part because the equipment needed for lifts and transfers is not accessible or because they do not have the time to use it as pre- scribed. Here, too, space is important. Many rooms make it difficult to move equipment into place without close personal contact, or to even use the equipment required. Then there is the lack of time necessary to sanitize equipment to prevent spread. Legal cases recently taken against for-profit homes by unions speak to their failure to provide the needed equipment, not the least of which is PPE.40 39. Armstrong & Day, supra note 31. 40. Ontario Labour Relations Board, OLRB Case No: 0091-20-HS, OLRB Case No 0092-20-HS, OLRB Case No 0093-20-HS; Ontario  Nurses’  Association  v  Participating  Nursing  Homes, 2019 ONSC 2168, Divisional Court File NO.: 362/16 and 364/16. See also Katherine Lippel, this volume, Chapter E-3.