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home / 世界杯决赛2022

quebec details how and when infected employees could be sent back to work

employers will be permitted to bring asymptomatic staff back only if essential services are or will soon be disrupted. there's a four-step guide detailing the priority of who to bring back.

by katelyn thomas

dec 30 2021
read time 3 minute read
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officials in quebec are planning for the possibility of taking more than just health-care employees out of isolation to send them back to work as a last resort.

as the province continues to shatter daily covid-19 case records , the health ministry on wednesday outlined the circumstances under which health-care workers and other essential public service employees — such as first responders — could be sent back to work after coming into contact with covid-19 or contracting it themselves.

employers will be permitted to bring asymptomatic staff back only if essential services are or will soon be disrupted. there’s a four-step guide detailing the priority of who to bring back, beginning with those in preventive isolation (after a number of days). asymptomatic staff who have tested positive for covid-19 may be brought back after five days of isolation if absolutely necessary.
if services are still disrupted after exhausting the above options, employers are asked to contact public health to figure out next steps.
“bringing people who are themselves covid cases is our last option, and it must be done in a strict way with many precautionary measures,” said dr. yves jalbert, the medical director of public health protection at the health ministry. “we’re asking people who are infected and coming back to work to be isolated, so … people should take their breaks in isolated places, food should be consumed in isolated places.”
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he added there may be an attempt to have infected workers treat infected patients exclusively, but that nothing has been set in stone.
“we didn’t want to be, in the directive, very strict on the use of those people coming back to work by defining which clientele they’ll be assigned to,” jalbert said. “those are elements that will be managed by the establishment.”
while staff will be aware of infected colleagues, the ministry has not yet decided whether it will require infected staff to disclose their health status to those they are treating.
“we have to understand we’re putting protective measures around the (infected) person in their environment, and in the way that we will offer care,” said dr. richard massé, a public health adviser to the government.
outside of the health-care network, essential-services staff will be asked to inform their colleagues of their status, massé said, adding that more details surrounding those services are to come.

asked whether returning health-care workers will need to wear n95 masks, massé said they’re already available in many situations and that a plan is being finalized with the commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (cnesst) to expand their use .

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“it’s not foreseen to systematically call for the wearing of n95s for the return of workers,” added christine savard, the director general of governance and strategic prevention advice at the cnesst. “it will depend on situations.”
massé said it would be difficult to measure the potential impact of bringing back staff who may or may not be infected with covid-19.
“we don’t know how much (the new course of action) is going to be used,” he said. “we’re going to start by the least problematic (situation), going further if needed.”
dr. donald vinh, an infectious-diseases specialist at the mcgill university health centre, said these measures show the desperation quebec is facing during the latest wave of covid-19.
“this is another wake-up call, hopefully, to the government to make them realize that once again we are telling you that the health-care system is grossly understaffed,” he said. “and that should be a primary priority for their agenda in the next little while.”
officials also announced on wednesday that vaccinated health-care workers who are exposed to covid-19 outside their home no longer need to isolate. workers who are exposed to a positive case at home, however, are asked to isolate for seven days.

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virginie ann of the canadian press contributed to this report.
kthomas@postmedia.com
twitter.com/katelynthomas

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katelyn thomas, montreal gazette
katelyn thomas, montreal gazette

i have been reporting on a range of news at the montreal gazette since 2021, with a particular interest in social issues and human interest stories.

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