B.C. health-care workers missed nearly 28,000 shifts last week due to illness
CTV
British Columbia health-care workers missed nearly 28,000 shifts last week due to illness as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to gut workforces across the province.
Nurses, paramedics and other health-care workers missed 27,937 shifts "due to short-term illness" between Jan. 3 and Jan. 9, B.C.'s health minister said during a live update on the province's pandemic response on Tuesday.
"This could be due to COVID-19, due to experienced symptoms of COVID-19, or due to other illnesses," Health Minister Adrian Dix said.
The minister said the province is looking for space to establish a field hospital in B.C.'s Lower Mainland if necessary to cope with the growing influx of COVID-19 patients, including potentially converting space at the Vancouver Convention Centre where there is currently a vaccination clinic.
Dix stressed, however, that the move is a proactive one and the province does not require the emergency measure at this time.
"We are not moving to stand up a field hospital at this time, but of course we want to have all of the options available as we go through these difficult weeks," Dix said.
The majority of the health-care worker shifts that were missed due to illness last week were in the Fraser Health region, where staff called in sick to 7,151 shifts, Dix said.
Approximately 5,183 health-care shifts were missed due to illness in the Vancouver Coastal Health region; 4,939 were missed in the Vancouver Island region; 4,713 were missed in the Interior; and 1,308 shifts were missed due to illness in the Northern Health region.
B.C. paramedics and workers in the Provincial Health Services Authority called in sick to more than 3,100 shifts last week while Providence Health Care workers missed nearly 1,500 shifts, according to the health minister.
Epcor says a chlorinelike smell or taste to Edmonton’s water is the natural result of treating spring runoff and that the water is still safe to drink.
Almost 13 years after the City of Calgary suffered its historic flood, six properties along the city’s Elbow River are now being sold.
Police in Surrey, B.C., are investigating an overnight shooting at a business in the city’s Cloverdale area.
Nearly 15,000 full-time equivalent positions will be cut in federal departments over the next three years, as part of the federal government’s plan to find $60 billion in savings by 2029.
Police in Timmins have released photos of an 18-year-old suspect wanted for shooting a man to death last November.
A crossing guard is being treated for serious injuries after he was struck by a vehicle during the morning commute in Barrhaven.
British Columbia’s river forecaster has rescinded the high streamflow advisories that covered southern parts of the province after heavy rains last week.
It’s an extra long March Break for some students in Nova Scotia following a spring snowfall.
Ontario to seize ownership of Toronto Island Airport lands and declare it is a special economic zone
Premier Doug Ford says the provincial government will be seizing ownership of city-owned lands at Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport and declaring it a special economic zone, invoking new powers that will allow it to override environmental and other regulations.
Saskatchewan’s highest court has dismissed an appeal in the case of a years-long land dispute between the Village of Buena Vista and local landowners.
A participant in the 18th Annual Montreal Lake Walleye Derby is alleged to have violated derby rules over the weekend.
Three byelections are being held on April 13 and the results could have an impact on both the makeup of Parliament and how long it lasts. Here’s a primer on how things could change.
A member of Manitoba’s government caucus and the first First Nations woman elected to the province’s legislature has died.