Risky decision being made at MGH:
Michael Garron Hospital tells employees returning from abroad to report to work, despite new provincial guidelines
Chris FoxCTV News Toronto
Published Sunday, March 22, 2020 7:12AM EDT
A hospital in the city’s east end has informed its employees returning from abroad that it expects them to continue showing up to work so long as they are asymptomatic, a position that goes against advice from Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health.
The province had previously said that healthcare workers didn’t need to self-isolate upon returning to Canada unless they were exhibiting symptoms but on Thursday Dr. David Williams amended that guideline and said that only healthcare workers who are “critical” to operations should be returning to work without self-isolating for two weeks.
The new advice came on the same day that officials confirmed a woman had tested positive for COVID-19 after returning to work at a hospital in Woodstock following a trip to Mexico.
In a statement provided to CP24, Michael Garron Hospital said that despite the new advice it is taking the position that “all healthcare workers are critical for hospital operations” and is therefore telling its employees that they must immediately return to work after international travel if they are asymptomatic.
The hospital, however, said that it will continue advanced screening measures for “for staff, physicians, patients, visitors and every individual entering the building.”
“We are asking asymptomatic health care workers returning from international travel to return to work based on several robust safety measures and strategies we have put in place from the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. This approach is consistent with our healthy workplace policy and in alignment with several of our partner hospitals in Toronto,” the statement reads. “There is community transmission of COVID-19 in Ontario; therefore travel is no longer the only risk factor. People who have not travelled may now be at similar risk for having COVID-19 as those who have travelled.”
A hospital in the city’s east end has informed its employees returning from abroad that it expects them to continue showing up to work so long as they are asymptomatic, a position that goes against advice from Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health.
toronto.ctvnews.ca