(July 28, 2020)<\/p>\n
By: Yahoo News Canada<\/p>\n
While Ontario’s Stage 3 reopening means people\u00a0can go to bars and eat\u00a0in restaurants, family physicians are unlikely to transition from virtual to\u00a0in-person visits any time soon, despite concerns over potential long-term consequences.<\/p>\n
“Until it is feasible for doctors to protect their communities, they are not going to change that practice,” said Dr. Samantha Hill, president of the Ontario Medical Association (OMA).<\/p>\n
The OMA found in June, two-thirds of doctors were delivering most patient care via telephone or virtually.<\/p>\n
Hill said the exponential rise in costs for both personal protective equipment (PPE) and\u00a0investments needed to\u00a0make doctors’ offices\u00a0COVID-safe, is largely behind a slow transition back to in-person visits.<\/p>\n
“The last thing any physician wants is to be the source of a community spread event,”\u00a0said Hill.<\/p>\n
“So if we aren’t able to protect our staff and ourselves and our patients from each other, then we don’t reopen \u2014\u00a0it’s just as simple as that.”<\/p>\n