Please see an excellent example for Ontario below:
To: "christine.elliott@ontario.ca" <christine.elliott@ontario.ca>
Subject: COVID-19 and Dentistry
Dear Ms. Elliott,
I’m writing regarding the current situation affecting Ontario dentists. I’ve summarized the important points here:
1) Dentists are at increased risk of infection compared to the general public and compared to most other health care workers (see https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/15/business/economy/coronavirus-worker-risk.html?referringSource=articleShare
2) The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO), on March 16, “strongly recommend[ed] all non-essential and elective dental services [be] suspended immediately. Emergency treatment should continue.” (See attached).
3) The majority (>95%) of dental work is elective, so this was by-and-large a recommended complete closure.
4) Dentists by-and-large cannot continue to operate in this setting because a) patients are essentially not visiting in the first place; and b) many staff (understandably) do not feel it is safe to do so.
5) Many (likely almost all) dentists are closing anyway - because it’s the right thing to do.
6) Most dentists have practice interruption insurance (with many having pandemic-specific policies), but none of these policies are currently willing to pay out because the closure has not been mandated, but is rather only a “recommendation”. I, for example, have coverage with CDSPI, but they have indicated that the current situation does not qualify.
7) This insurance is intended to cover the (extremely high) overhead costs of operating a small medical/dental business in the case of an interruption like this. Instead, many dentists are currently losing thousands of dollars per day in fixed operating costs.
8) Finally, this is resulting in a tickle-down negative outcome for dental office staff (hygienists, receptionists, nurses, assistants) who are unable to be supported by their employer.
9) A number of petitions have been started to bring light to this issue, including http://chng.it/PLqsWXHCwj
10) There is a medical resource issue with dental offices staying open. Not only do many dentists not have N95 masks to protect them from infection, but the resources they are using, including single use facial masks, etc., are a scarce resource that should be preserved for urgent medical settings.
The RCDSO guidelines:
Ontario Public Health needs to address this issue as it is a serious health concern for the public.