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Opposition Seek Ten Paid Sick Days

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The provincial NDP is again pushing for more paid sick days.

They say with monkeypox becoming the latest threat, Ontario needs to prepare by allowing people ten sick days and other supports to recover and prevent further spread.

2SLGBT Q+ Issues critic Kristyn Wong-Tam says Premier Ford’s expansion of a temporary program because of COVID falls short of what is needed.

“Three days of paid sick days do not come close to empowering our communities enough to fend off this emerging infectious disease. It falls short of public health advice even from his own advisors,” says Wong-Tam.

The World Health Organization’s chief last weekend declared monkeypox a global health emergency.

Wong-Tam says it couldn’t happen at a worse time, noting businesses impacted by COVID restrictions don’t need another pandemic as they still try to recover.

“Bars, clubs, bath houses and restaurants are still struggling to stay afloat after years of COVID-19. The last thing local small businesses need is another pandemic. In refusing, again, to provide adequate and permanent paid sick days to Ontarians in the face of the growing public health emergency of monkeypox Ford is failing to protect people’s health.”

Along with the ten days, Wong-Tam wants to see an additional 14 offered when dealing with serious public health risks like COVID-19 or monkeypox.

As of July 25, Ontario’s public health units reported 326 active cases of monkeypox.

Eleven people had to be hospitalized

The most commonly reported symptoms include rash, oral/genital lesions, swollen lymph nodes, headache, fever, chills, myalgia and fatigue.

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WHO declares Monkeypox global health emergency

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The World Health Organization has declared Monkeypox a global health emergency.

Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gave the outbreak the highest level of alert on Saturday.

It has been given the distinction of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the WHO. Since 2007 that label has been applied to COVID-19, Zika, H1N1 flu, polio and Ebola.

The monkeypox outbreak has been spreading across the globe with over 16,000 reported cases from 75 countries and territories.

Ghebreyesus says it has been spreading mainly amongst men.

“For the moment, this monkeypox outbreak is concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those with multiple sexual partners,” he says in a Tweet. “That means that this is an outbreak that can be stopped with the right strategies in the right groups.”

He warns “discrimination can be as dangerous as any virus,” and is calling on civil society organizations to help fight the stigma with monkeypox.

In Canada, there have been 681 publicly reported cases to date.

Symptoms of the virus are usually mild with a fever, headache, muscle aches, chills and exhaustion. Infected people will also develop a rash, typically on the face, before it spreads to other body parts.