Linda Silas, president of the Federation of Nurses Unions, said health workers are often taught to put patients first. But in a situation where workers' lives and their family's lives are at risk, their safety must be put on equal footing.
NDP health critic Don Davies referenced a memo from a Hamilton, Ont., hospital that suggested workers should continue to use the same mask until they were "grossly soiled," as a means of rationing supply.
"Sick, sick, sick," Silas responded.
That's leading to a lot of anxiety for physicians and other medical staff about what will happen if they run out of masks and protective clothing and start to get sick, Buchman said.