COVID-19 sick days and testing accessibility critiques rise in Kingson
Global News
Coun. Robert Kiley pressed the local medical officer of health Tuesday about the "stay home, get tested" strategy as demand for testing grows and long wait times are evident.
As COVID-19 cases skyrocket in the Kingston region, public health continues to urge people to stay home from work and school — and get tested.
However, critiques are rising across the province and locally about how much time it can take to get tested and how much time people can take off from work while they wait.
“I wonder from an equity perspective how is it that we can rest one of our main strategies for beating this fourth wave on something that people are essentially economically priced out of doing,” Coun. Robert Kiley asked of Dr. Piotr Oglaza at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
To support the request to stay home and get tested, the provincial government announced Wednesday that the COVID-19 three-day paid sick day program that was to end in December will be extended to July 2022.
But what if people need more than three days? This was the question put to Dr. Piotr Oglaza Tuesday when he presented to the council.
“It’s a really significant issue, something that has already been a part of the advocacy of many public health units and we need to continue to do this, fully realizing that there’s limitations to what individuals can do in this community,” he said.
He added that in his previous position as medical officer of health for Hastings Prince Edward Public Health, he wrote to the province several times about this issue. He plans to continue to do so as he leads KFL&A through the remainder of the pandemic.