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They weren't willing to die for the job — or put their families in danger

And that explains the desertions. Every person working with a COVID patient has to manage their own fears — fears for their own safety, and for the safety of their loved ones, should they become infected. Frontline Canadian health-care workers have mostly been able to obtain the PPE they need to minimize their risk. That’s the very least we can do for them. In a pandemic, our medical personnel are our soldiers, and if we’re going to send them into battle, we owe it to them to send them in properly armed and equipped. (This is something Canada struggles to do with its actual soldiers in literal wars, mind you, but that’s another column.) But this crisis has laid bare how many other workers would need PPE during a pandemic of an infectious disease — or at least believe they need it.

That last point is a tricky one. When every mask is precious, tough decisions need to be made about who gets them. Logically, they should only be used when they are absolutely necessary. But part of crisis management in a pandemic is managing fears as well as equipment stockpiles. If workers don’t feel safe without equipment, a public health expert reassuring them they don’t really need it isn’t likely to prove convincing. They’ll stop showing up to work. This is especially true for workers in low-wage jobs that put them in direct contact with COVID victims. Asking them to work without PPE in a pandemic is asking them to put themselves and their families in at least perceived danger, and likely real danger.