One thing we know is that when medical equipment has gone beyond the recommended usage date, it does not necessarily mean that the equipment is no longer protective or of value. However, due to the global shortage of medical-grade personal protective equipment, along with the fact that there literally was nothing on the shelf—it was right up there with the toilet paper run—and the fact that there were incredibly difficult challenges in moving this product around the world, it certainly was very important that we carefully reviewed what was available to us. While there were certainly items that had hit their “use-by” date, the surgeon general, rather than just moving forward and using them, determined that these were required to go back and be retested. Using Canadian standard testing, through the assistant deputy minister of materiel, it was determined that the gloves that were linked to this “beyond their use-by date” were, in fact, still of quality and still useable. Therefore, they were recertified for a period of up to an additional year, and therefore, no expired equipment was used with our personnel.
Second, with respect to the comment concerning a shortage, please keep in mind that this was a particularly urgent situation and some of our most vulnerable citizens were dying of COVID. What happened globally is that as our personnel went out the door with their equipment, we also shared it with the people we worked with in the different provinces, and vice versa. The intent was always to make sure that everybody was fully protected and had the equipment, the training and resources necessary to provide the care that was required for our citizens.