Bracing for impact, front-line workers in Ontario continue providing care as the threat of a third wave of COVID-19 infections looms against the backdrop of an economy poised to reopen.
Restrictions in Ontario are easing up, and in-person schooling in COVID-19 hot spots, including Toronto, York and Peel regions, is slated to resume next week.
While many people are happy about these measures, some health-care workers say it’s too much too soon, with some raising concerns about another spike in COVID-19 cases, and effects of the burnout happening on the front lines.
“I feel like we kind of got tumbled out of a waterfall, and just popped our heads up for a breath,” emergency room physician Dr. Steve Flindall, told Global News, “and now we are being sent towards another set of rapids.”
Flindall worries a third wave of COVID-19 could materialize in Ontario within a matter of weeks.
“I’m afraid it’s going to be less than a month, I’m worried with schools going back, and the simultaneous reopening of businesses, the doubling rate of the U.K. variant… it could be quite explosive if people drop their guard,” said Flindall.
Some family physicians have said they are stretched to the limit. “If I burn out, if I say ‘that’s it I can’t do it anymore,’ or if I get sick and I get COVID, I will have 1,500 patients that that don’t have a doctor,” said Ottawa family physician Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth.
She recalls how one of her colleagues from Alberta told her, to avoid burnout, it’s important to ‘pass the baton’ in order to keep going. “The problem is there isn’t anyone to pass it to, because we are all tired,” Kaplan-Myrth said.
DJ Sanderson is a nurse, and also serves on the board of directors for the Ontario Nurses’ Association. Sanderson said he is worried the decisions being made by the provincial government will only contribute to the stress on the front lines.
“The stress, the workload, the short staffing, the long shifts in full PPE, [it’s] just wearing on them to the point where they just can’t take it anymore,” Sanderson said.
In some cases he said, the burnout is so significant nurses are starting to leave the profession earlier than they had planned.
“We are hearing back from a number of our members, that in all honesty had planned on working a number of years, [that even though] they enjoy their careers, they’ve now started putting in for early retirement,” said Sanderson.
“Something needs to be done quickly to make sure there is a system that can take another wave.”
© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
(Bloomberg) — The head of the International Monetary Fund warned the US that the global economy is closely watching interest rates and industrial policies given the potential spillovers from the world’s biggest economy and reserve currency.
“All eyes are on the US,” Kristalina Georgieva said in an interview on Bloomberg’s Surveillance on Thursday.
The two biggest issues, she said, are “what is going to happen with inflation and interest rates” and “how is the US going to navigate this world of more intrusive government policies.”
The sustained strength of the US dollar is “concerning” for other currencies, particularly the lack of clarity on how long that may last.
“That’s what I hear from countries,” said the leader of the fund, which has about 190 members. “How long will the Fed be stuck with higher interest rates?”
Georgieva was speaking on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank’s spring meetings in Washington, where policymakers have been debating the impacts of Washington and Beijing’s policies and their geopolitical rivalry.
Read More: A Resilient Global Economy Masks Growing Debt and Inequality
Georgieva said the IMF is optimistic that the conditions will be right for the Federal Reserve to start cutting rates this year.
“The Fed is not yet prepared, and rightly so, to cut,” she said. “How fast? I don’t think we should gear up for a rapid decline in interest rates.”
The IMF chief also repeated her concerns about China devoting too much capital and labor toward export-oriented manufacturing, causing other countries, including the US, to retaliate with protectionist policies.
China Overcapacity
“If China builds overcapacity and pushes exports that create reciprocity of action, then we are in a world of more fragmentation not less, and that ultimately is not good for China,” Georgieva said.
“What I want to see China doing is get serious about reforms, get serious about demand and consumption,” she added.
A number of countries have recently criticized China for what they see as excessive state subsidies for manufacturers, particularly in clean energy sectors, that might flood global markets with cheap goods and threaten competing firms.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen hammered at the theme during a recent trip to China, repeatedly calling on Beijing to shift its economic policy toward stimulating domestic demand.
Chinese officials have acknowledged the risk of overcapacity in some areas, but have largely portrayed the criticism as overblown and hypocritical, coming from countries that are also ramping up clean energy subsidies.
(Updates with additional Georgieva comments from eighth paragraph.)
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
The head of the International Monetary Fund warned the US that the global economy is closely watching interest rates and industrial policies given the potential spillovers from the world’s biggest economy and reserve currency.
Author of the article:
Published Apr 18, 2024 • 2 minute read
(Bloomberg) — The head of the International Monetary Fund warned the US that the global economy is closely watching interest rates and industrial policies given the potential spillovers from the world’s biggest economy and reserve currency.
“All eyes are on the US,” Kristalina Georgieva said in an interview on Bloomberg’s Surveillance on Thursday.
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The two biggest issues, she said, are “what is going to happen with inflation and interest rates” and “how is the US going to navigate this world of more intrusive government policies.”
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Article content
The sustained strength of the US dollar is “concerning” for other currencies, particularly the lack of clarity on how long that may last.
“That’s what I hear from countries,” said the leader of the fund, which has about 190 members. “How long will the Fed be stuck with higher interest rates?”
Georgieva was speaking on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank’s spring meetings in Washington, where policymakers have been debating the impacts of Washington and Beijing’s policies and their geopolitical rivalry.
Read More: A Resilient Global Economy Masks Growing Debt and Inequality
Georgieva said the IMF is optimistic that the conditions will be right for the Federal Reserve to start cutting rates this year.
“The Fed is not yet prepared, and rightly so, to cut,” she said. “How fast? I don’t think we should gear up for a rapid decline in interest rates.”
The IMF chief also repeated her concerns about China devoting too much capital and labor toward export-oriented manufacturing, causing other countries, including the US, to retaliate with protectionist policies.
China Overcapacity
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Article content
“If China builds overcapacity and pushes exports that create reciprocity of action, then we are in a world of more fragmentation not less, and that ultimately is not good for China,” Georgieva said.
“What I want to see China doing is get serious about reforms, get serious about demand and consumption,” she added.
A number of countries have recently criticized China for what they see as excessive state subsidies for manufacturers, particularly in clean energy sectors, that might flood global markets with cheap goods and threaten competing firms.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen hammered at the theme during a recent trip to China, repeatedly calling on Beijing to shift its economic policy toward stimulating domestic demand.
Chinese officials have acknowledged the risk of overcapacity in some areas, but have largely portrayed the criticism as overblown and hypocritical, coming from countries that are also ramping up clean energy subsidies.
(Updates with additional Georgieva comments from eighth paragraph.)
Article content
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