Company action tamped down COVID-19 outbreak: Roussin

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This article was published 07/05/2020 (2144 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The chief provincial public health officer has applauded the actions of a Manitoba trucking firm in containing the spread of the novel coronavirus when one of its workers recently fell ill.

A cluster of COVID-19 cases at the Brandon terminal of Winnipeg-based Paul’s Hauling Ltd., could have grown were it not for the swift action taken by the company, Dr. Brent Roussin said in his daily media briefing Thursday.

Five persons at the company have tested positive for the virus, along with two close contacts of the employees.

“That number could have been higher but for some of the precautions that that workplace took,” said Roussin, who did not refer to the company or its location by name. However, media outlets, including the Winnipeg Free Press, have identified the firm.

Key was the company’s decision to split employees into smaller groups within the workplace, thereby limiting contacts. No employees outside of one of the workplace cohorts has tested positive, the chief public health officer said.

He also revealed Thursday, for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic, Manitoba decided to test a group of asymptomatic persons in a workplace in an attempt to contain an outbreak.

Roussin has been loath to test asymptomatic persons, saying the results are not as reliable.

Fourteen asymptomatic persons at the trucking firm were tested, and the results all came back negative, he said.

Roussin said while he still doesn’t advise widespread testing of asymptomatic people, “In certain circumstances… where you have close contacts and have an outbreak, it can be utilized.”

In an internal email dated May 1, an official with the trucking firm said the company attempted to have an entire shift of workers tested after the first employee fell ill and was confirmed to be infected. It was was initially told workers who didn’t have symptoms would not be tested.

Roussin said because of the company’s actions, case investigations could be carried out quickly.

He said while more connected individuals may test positive, few additional contacts are likely to be generated because those involved self-isolated so quickly.

On Thursday, Manitoba reported no new cases of COVID-19; because one case that had been considered probable turned out to be negative, the total number of lab-confirmed and probable cases in the province fell to 283.

Five individuals are currently hospitalized with the virus; none in intensive care. There are 33 active cases; 243 persons have recovered from COVID-19 in Manitoba. The death toll remains at seven.

With comparatively few new cases in recent weeks, diagnostic tests and surgeries that had been delayed due to the coronavirus are being scheduled, said Lanette Siragusa, chief nursing officer with Shared Health.

“Across the province, clinical activity is being carefully ramped up,” she said. “Patients will be scheduled according to clinical priority to receive the care that they need. Additional operating room days will be added at most sites in all regions according to needs, priority, staffing and available PPE (personal protective equipment).”

Siragusa said from March 23 to April 30, 3,000 surgeries were completed in Manitoba — one-third of what would normally have been performed during that time.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca