Province ratchets up screening of health-care staff 'Significant impact' at St. B, Grace hospitals after workers test positive, others isolate; community spread has begun, Roussin says By: Larry Kusch and Carol Sanders Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Wednesday, Apr. 1, 2020 Last Modified: 8:01 PM CDT Wednesday, Apr. 1, 2020 Updates

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Community transmission of the COVID-19 virus was confirmed in Manitoba Wednesday, triggering new protocols for staff entry into hospitals and care homes, and placing new urgency on the message to stay home.

Chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said community transmission of the coronavirus was inevitable as the number of cases grew.

Before now, he had linked all cases in Manitoba to travellers or their contacts. On Wednesday, he said there were four to five cases that could not be accounted for in that way.

“Now is our time to act to interrupt the spread of this virus, and we can only do so with the help of Manitobans,” he said. “Stay home, stay home and stay home.”

New measures to screen hospital and personal-care home employees for signs of COVID-19 were announced Wednesday after news broke that at least one health-care worker had showed up for work with symptoms of the virus.

On Wednesday, officials confirmed that health-care workers in at least three Manitoba health facilities — St. Boniface Hospital, Grace Hospital and Selkirk Regional Health Centre — have tested positive.

Public health officials no longer relying on the honour system to make sure unwell front-line staff don’t go to work.

From now on, staff at acute-care facilities and nursing homes who work closely with patients will have their temperature checked and be required to answer questions about their travel history and any symptoms they may have.

 

 

“The staff who have been COVID-positive have been at work and not feeling well and we need them to stay home,” said Lanette Siragusa, chief of nursing at Shared Health.

“We must ensure that we are taking every possible measure to ensure our staff and our patients are protected,” she said. “Staff must stay home if they are ill, even if their symptoms are mild. We have a duty to protect our patients, our staff and our community.”

On Wednesday, Manitoba recorded 24 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 127. Four people were hospitalized with the virus, including three in intensive care. There has been one death connected to the disease.

On Tuesday, officials reported that an emergency room employee at Selkirk Regional Health Centre, who had exhibited symptoms at work, had tested positive.

Roussin said officials are investigating how Winnipeg hospital staff became infected with the coronavirus. He did not say how many Manitoba health workers have tested positive, nor could he say how many health workers are self-isolating.

However Siragusa said the exposures to the virus have had “a significant impact” on the operations of the two city hospitals.

“We are working with both sites to ensure that they will be able to be staffed appropriately,” she said.

The Manitoba Nurses Union said it is aware of a Winnipeg ER nurse who has tested positive and is resting at home. The nurse had not travelled recently, and it’s likely she was exposed at work, the union said.

The nurses union said two staff members at Grace Hospital have been confirmed positive, and more than 14 ER staff — several of whom are nurses — are self-isolating at the hospital.

One Grace employee said three workers at the hospital have tested positive.

“Staff are scared they’re going to get exposed, and it’s already happening,” said the worker, who asked not to be identified. “It’s pretty rough for people.”

“We must ensure that we are taking every possible measure to ensure our staff and our patients are protected. Staff must stay home if they are ill, even if their symptoms are mild. We have a duty to protect our patients, our staff and our community.” – Lanette Siragusa, chief of nursing at Shared Health

The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals said Wednesday that one of its members at Grace Hospital has tested positive for COVID-19, while nine other members at St. Boniface Hospital were self-isolating after another hospital employee tested positive.

Bob Moroz, president of the MAHCP, which represents a variety of health professionals who are neither doctors nor nurses, said the Grace member who tested positive did not work in one particular area, but had the run of the hospital.

“This type of worker does move about the hospital, through the emergency room, through the wards, and various other places where they’re needed,” he said.

Moroz said the member believes they contracted the virus through contact with patients.

Roussin said while some jurisdictions waited for evidence of community transmission before implementing social-distancing measures, Manitoba was ahead of the game, implementing the measures weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Moroz said it took days for the MAHCP member at Grace Hospital to obtain a test for the coronavirus. He said the worker developed symptoms while off work and did not go to work after feeling ill.

Moroz has a gripe with hospital managers who are “not making it easy” for employees to stay home if they’re sick.

Workers who have used up their sick leave are told if they stay home, they won’t be paid, he said.

“They’re disincentivizing their own employees in health care from staying home when they’re feeling sick,” he said, adding that this is contrary to the message that public-health officers have been sending employers.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca