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The nurse who spoke to this newspaper, said the new recommendations have alarmed nurses and made them feel that their health is being sacrificed.

She said she also believes that the directive is related to the fact that there is a global shortage of N95 respirators.

Among other things, she noted that paramedics are still wearing N95 masks for suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Unions representing front line health care workers have also said they are concerned about the guidelines for personal protective equipment when it comes to treating COVID-19 cases.

“Many Ontario health care staff have lived through SARS and learned many lessons about infection control and best practices and they have solutions and want collaboration and frankness with government during this difficult period,” said representatives of nursing and hospital worker unions in a statement.

Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions said the lesson from SARS is that the health system should err on the side of being more cautious when it comes to protecting frontline health workers. That was a recommendation from an inquiry after the SARS crisis.

Although the WHO has determined that COVID-19 is not airborne, other scientific authorities have different views. And even if it is not airborne, Hurley said it should be treated that way for the safety of health workers.

He said he was concerned to see photos of health workers at Ottawa’s COVID-19 assessment centre wearing surgical masks.