‘We have no choice’: Quebec announces some health workers with COVID-19 will be allowed to work
Global News
Health Minister Christian Dubé announced new measures on Tuesday aimed at limiting the impact of COVID-19 on the health network as cases and hospitalizations surge.
Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé announced the province would allow some health-care workers who have tested positive to COVID-19 to continue working.
Dubé made the announcement on Tuesday in Montreal as the province faces a surge in cases fuelled by the Omicron variant and a rapid increase in hospitalizations.
“What we are trying to avoid above all … is overwhelming the health network,” he said in French.
“We’re stuck in a vice where hospitalizations are increasing and more and more health workers have to take time off. In other words, we have more and more sick people and less and less people left to take care of them.”
Dubé said that last week 4,000 health workers were absent because of COVID-19 and that number jumped to 7,000 on Tuesday as hospitalizations topped 702, including 115 patients in intensive care units.
He said the number of absentee health workers is expected to reach 10,000 in the next few days.
“In previous waves, we wanted to identify and remove at-risk employees as quickly as possible. With the current level of vaccination, we have to do otherwise — we have no choice,” he said, adding that 98 per cent of health workers are vaccinated.
“We made the decision that under certain conditions, positive staff will be able to continue working under a list of priority and risk management.”