Some health-care workers exempt from isolation rule

SASKATOON Some health-care providers returning to Saskatchewan from abroad will be exempt from protocols instructing Canadians to remain in self-isolation, a measure that officials say reflects their essential role on the front lines against COVID-19.

A memo from the Saskatchewan Health Authority says employees will only need to self-isolate if they are returning on or after March 16.

The general public was asked to self-isolate for two weeks if returning to Canada anytime after March 14.

“There will be times when restrictions on general public will need to be different from health care workers,” SHA spokesperson Amanda Purcell wrote in an email.

The memo says the decision was made under a directive from the province’s chief medical officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab.

It sparked concern from some health-care workers who worry about the potential for them to spread the virus in a workplace if they are not exhibiting symptoms.

Barbara Cape, president of SEIU-WEST, a union representing more than 11,500 workers in the health-care sector in Saskatchewan,

acknowledged that healthcare workers are essential, but she questioned the “arbitrary” selection of March 16 as a cut-off date.

“I think health-care workers have to be treated the same as the rest of the population,” Cape said. “We can’t treat health-care workers as ‘essential’ but (say) we’ll waive the rules because we’re short-staffed today.”

When asked about the decision at a news conference Monday, Shahab said it was “not ideal,” but it might be necessary if there was no alternate staffer to cover a shift.

He stressed employees who returned would still be monitoring for symptoms and would not work if they felt ill or had been in contact with someone with COVID-19.

Shahab noted on Monday that the federal public health agency had advised on when workers could return, and added that employees in some other professions, such as truck drivers, were also exempt from self-isolation.

Cape said more precise details should have been given to avoid confusion.

“Where there is a vacuum of information, people fill it with all kinds of nonsense, and panic sets in,” Cape said.

While the risk of contracting the novel coronavirus remained low as of Tuesday afternoon, health officials have buoyed efforts to prevent an outbreak in a facility by restricting access to visitors at hospitals and long-term care facilities.

Of the eight cases recorded by the province — six of which are presumptive — all are related to travel outside the province.

One is believed to be a healthcare worker in the northern community of Southend with a recent history of travel in other provinces, as well as overseas in Nigeria and Germany.