The President of the BC Nurses Union says health care workers are better equipped to tackle cases of the new coronavirus in Canada because of lessons learned after the SARS outbreak of 2003.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Christine Sorensen says people on the front lines are often exposed to numerous communicable diseases in hospitals.

She says health care workers are encouraged to wear masks to protect themselves.

“One of the other things that we learned out of the SARS epidemic is the wearing of eye protection when we’re unsure as part of the Personal Protective Equipment process,” she said. “So the donning of masks, and the donning of eye protection, wearing of gloves and then certainly any gowns as needed.”

Sorensen says health care workers and other people are also encouraged to wash their hands regularly with soap and warm water.

“You know the current coronavirus is a virus and hand washing is the best thing people can do. Soap and water, warm water is helpful and to do it frequently,” Sorensen added.

“Nurses are constantly washing hands and following infection control procedures that are laid out in their facilities and that’s the best thing that we can do to protect ourselves and the patient.”

She’s also urging people who may be experiencing flu like symptoms to stay home to prevent spreading it to other people.

And Sorensen says just like with SARS, officials are adapting to better protect people.

“And that’s exactly what’s taking place right now with the coronavirus. They’re learning about the virus. They’re learning about its spread and they’re putting in infection control measures as quickly as possible to contain it,” she said.

“People go into emergency rooms, they go to their doctor’s offices because they’re ill, but we don’t need to spread our illness to somebody else.”