Vaccinated close contacts of COVID-19 cases should self-isolate but province needs 'backup' plan for health-care workers: Moore
Ontario health-care workers who are deemed close contacts of people who contract COVID-19 could be allowed to remain on the job so long as they test negative before each shift, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore says.
Public health officials were initially instructing anyone who was a close contact of a COVID-19 case involving the Omicron variant to self-isolate, even if they were fully vaccinated.
But during a briefing on Tuesday, Moore said that we should really be “treating every new case going forward as Omicron” and that means that the isolation of all high risk contacts will likely be necessary, with an exception made for health-care workers.
His comments come in the wake of Ontario Hospital Association CEO Anthony Dale warning that there will be a “major impact” on some clinical services as already short-staffed hospitals work to “urgently re-activate mass vaccination programs” in the coming days and weeks.
“We are very concerned about a shortage in health human resources in the setting of Omicron given its potential for rapid spread, so we have a strategy to bring workers back that have had been high risk contacts,” Moore said on Tuesday.
“One of the strategies would be to have daily rapid antigen testing for those workers. Clearly if they get symptoms, if they get a PCR test that's positive they would be off but we may need to have a strategy of daily rapid antigen testing for high risk healthcare worker contacts to keep the workforce in place that we need to best serve Ontarians.”
Moore said that the Ontario government is working to increase its stockpile of rapid tests as it plans for what could be a challenging winter.
He said that rapid testing could also serve as a “backup strategy” for other essential workers, who might also be impacted by self-isolation requirements in the coming months.
“We're preparing to make sure that our essential workers are maintaining presenteeism through number one getting their third doses if eligible and secondly, having a backup testing strategy for them as well,” he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.