Health
Unions slam Quebec for allowing some COVID-positive healthcare staff to work
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Healthcare unions are opposing Quebec‘s decision to allow some asymptomatic workers infected with COVID-19 to stay on the job, even as an infectious disease specialist warned more Canadian provinces may be forced into similar steps as Omicron surges.
Quebec said on Tuesday it had no choice but to allow some essential healthcare staff to continue working instead of isolating at home after testing positive, to prevent staff shortages from crippling healthcare services.
A number of unions said they are worried the decision will put healthcare networks under further strain, and workers and patients at risk.
“The network is not prepared to face the risks of the government’s decision to bring asymptomatic infected staff back to work. Right now, we are not even able to test staff in their workplace,” said Réjean Leclerc, president of the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux, which represents 120,000 public and private sector healthcare workers in Quebec.
Leclerc called for better testing for workers and improved ventilation in hospitals.
“We cannot subscribe to this decision which endangers the health and safety not only of our members, but above all of the vulnerable people to whom they must provide essential care and services,” the Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel in Health and Social Services said in a social media post.
The union represents 60,000 workers in public health and social services institutions across Quebec.
Provinces across Canada, including heavily populated Quebec and Ontario, are reporting new daily COVID-19 case records as the highly infectious Omicron variant takes hold, forcing ten of thousands of people into isolation.
Andrew Morris, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto, said on Wednesday other provinces were likely discussing similar measures to help tackle staffing shortages in hospitals.
“Every jurisdiction in the northern hemisphere is dealing with the same problem. The clear reality is we will not be able to function by keeping everyone isolated for 10 days,” he said.
Morris said he was not aware of other jurisdictions allowing infected healthcare staff to work, but noted that Norway had already shortened its isolation period during a wave of the Delta variant earlier this winter.
U.S. health authorities on Monday also shortened the recommended isolation time for Americans with asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 to five days from the previous guidance of 10 days.
(Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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Alberta Health Services (AHS) has confirmed a case of measles in Edmonton, and is advising the public that the individual was out in public while infectious.
Measles is an extremely contagious disease that is spread easily through the air, and can only be prevented through immunization.
AHS says individuals who were in the following locations during the specified dates and times, may have been exposed to measles.
- April 16
- Edmonton International Airport, international arrivals and baggage claim area — between 3:20 p.m. and 6 p.m.
- April 20
- Stollery Children’s Hospital Emergency Department — between 5 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- April 22
- 66th Medical Clinic (13635 66 St NW Edmonton) — between 12:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- Pharmacy 66 (13637 66 St NW Edmonton) — between 12:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- April 23
- Stollery Children’s Hospital Emergency Department — between 4:40 a.m. to 9:33 a.m.
AHS says anyone who attended those locations during those times is at risk of developing measles if they’ve not had two documented doses of measles-containing vaccine.
Those who have not had two doses, who are pregnant, under one year of age, or have a weakened immune system are at greatest risk of getting measles and should contact Health Link at 1-877-720-0707.
Symptoms
Symptoms of measles include a fever of 38.3° C or higher, cough, runny nose, and/or red eyes, a red blotchy rash that appears three to seven days after fever starts, beginning behind the ears and on the face and spreading down the body and then to the arms and legs.
If you have any of these symptoms stay home and call Health Link.
In Alberta, measles vaccine is offered, free of charge, through Alberta’s publicly funded immunization program. Children in Alberta typically receive their first dose of measles vaccine at 12 months of age, and their second dose at 18 months of age.
Health
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Infected cows were already prohibited from being transported out of state, but that was based on the physical characteristics of the milk, which looks curdled when a cow is infected, or a cow has decreased lactation or low appetite, both symptoms of infection.
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