TORONTO -- 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 in a memo on Thursday Dr. David Williams amended that guideline and said that all healthcare workers should be self-isolating if they have travelled internationally.
He said that the only exception would be workers who are deemed “critical” to continued operations “by all parties.” He said that those employees could report to work but should “undergo regular screening, use appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the 14 days and undertake active self-monitoring, including taking their temperature twice daily.”
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. That woman spent a total of three days working at the hospital and did have "limited contact" with patients, according to officials.
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.”
Advice is not mandatory
Williams told reporters on Thursday that there are some positions that healthcare providers may view as essential but he said that they ought to identify those positions while there is a “window of opportunity to do that.”
For its part, Michael Garron Hospital said that all hospitals are “complex organizations” that need “many essential functions to maintain operations.
For that reason, the hospital said that it would be difficult to follow a broad guideline like asking all staff members to self-isolate after returning to Canada.
Instead, it said that all staff members will be asked whether anyone in their hospital has tested positive for COVID-19 upon entering the building. If they answer yes they will be directed to a screening clinic for assessment.
“We are actually not going against the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health. His recommendation was that hospital workers who are critical for the functioning of the hospital can return to work,” Dr. Ian Fraser, who is the chief of staff at Michael Garron, told CP24 on Sunday afternoon. “It is essential with such a complex organization to have every healthcare worker in place ready to serve the community. We are not a simple organization. It is important for us to have in our complex organization nurses, doctors, cleaners, IT workers, all the people who make good care possible and make us ready for this pandemic.”
In a statement provided to CP24, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said that officials made the decision to encourage individuals returning to Canada to self-isolate “in consultation with health system partners.”
The spokesperson said that while the advice is “not a directive” at this point, it is the ‘expectation’ of the ministry that hospitals will “abide” by it just the same.
In an interview with CP24 on Sunday morning, Mayor John Tory said that the provincial guidance should “supersede everything,” including policies set by hospitals like Michael Garron.
He said that he hopes all hospitals “get their act together” so that workers can have “consistent advice and consistent practices” when it comes to returning from international travel.”
“This is simply a reflection of the fact that we need to have the healthcare workers but also we need to make sure we protect their health. They are not going to be available to us to help if they are sick,” he said.
