Identifying workplace outbreaks considered
Public health staff studying Toronto’s plan to possibly adapt here
Toronto Public Health’s plan to publicly identify workplaces with large or prolonged COVID-19 outbreaks could be adapted and used in Niagara, says Dr. Mustafa Hirji.
“We want to study the details of the protocol,” said Hirji, Niagara’s acting medical officer of health.
“There are some conditions they’ve put in there, about the size of the outbreak, whether it’s a risk to the public — we need to understand how are they making those determinations, to decide how maybe we would adapt it locally.”
On Thursday there were 44 active outbreaks in Niagara, including 26 in hospital, longterm-care or retirement home settings.
Outbreaks in the community — including at local businesses — have accounted for about 10 per cent of the 4,729 cases reported in Niagara since the pandemic began.
Currently, Niagara Region Public Health identifies outbreaks in four general categories: Long-term-care and retirement homes — which are named — community, hospital, or congregate-care setting.
Businesses in outbreaks are not identified.
Toronto announced Monday it will start identifying outbreaks in 11 sectors, including some known for paying low wages, on a weekly basis.
It will also begin naming
specific employers where large or long-term outbreaks occur.
Across Ontario, there were 241 workplace outbreaks reported Thursday.
Some public health units identify workplace outbreaks by sector, such as manufacturing or retail. Others, like Hamilton, already name specific businesses.
Hirji said he’s not sure identifying workplaces would be an incentive to prevent future outbreaks.
“I think the value of it would be the transparency, for the public to understand what’s happening,” he said.
“The hesitation I think we as well as almost every other local public health agency has had is that most workplace outbreaks occur in very small workplaces, where they are dealing with a very small number of people.
“Unfortunately, that could compromise the privacy of the individuals who are affected.”
He said there have been instances in the past in Niagara where large workplace outbreaks were identified, such as at farms that employ numerous workers.
“Toronto is focusing on larger workplaces and workplaces where there is a risk to the public, and I think those are the kinds of places we would agree with,” said Hirji.
One problem, he said, is that “an outbreak is not something that can be absolutely prevented” even with strict safety measures in place.
Employers cannot control what workers do on their own time. A staff member or customer could arrive showing no symptoms, or could feel ill and still show up.
The coronavirus is highly contagious and one slip-up can lead to its spread.
“We worry that in a time when so many employers are going through such difficulty with restrictions in the economy, lockdowns and shutdowns that are affecting their business, this would actually inadvertently cause more harm to some of our local businesses who are already struggling to survive.
“It would imply there is something wrong there when actually it’s not a reflection … it’s just that they’ve had some bad luck,” Hirji said.
The failure public health staff sees most often, he said, is businesses “often are not doing the screening of employees before the start of their workday well enough. Really making sure that employees who are coming to work don’t have any symptoms.”