Jab, job or swab: thousands face deadline

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/10/2021 (1685 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Thousands of frontline, essential workers will start their day with a nasal swab before heading into hospitals, daycares and schools across Manitoba as public health orders requiring rapid COVID-19 testing or vaccination come into force today.

The sweeping mandate for vulnerable sector employees to take rapid COVID-19 tests up to three times a week — unless they are fully vaccinated against the disease — was estimated to impact more than 10,000 health care workers who, as of Friday, had not disclosed their immunization status.

However, at Bethania Mennonite Personal Care Home in northeast Winnipeg, chief executive officer Gary Ledoux said just eight staff would be required to arrive 30 minutes ahead of their scheduled shift to take the mandatory self-administered test.

Ledoux said across Bethania Group’s two personal care homes, including Pembina Place Personal Care Home, staff vaccination levels are high; just 12 of more than 280 employees in a variety of positions, including nurses and health care aides, are not fully vaccinated.

“It’ll be manageable. Part of the challenge is making sure people do it in the 48 hour span,” Ledoux said, describing how staff would take the test in a designated area and would be subject to weekly audits for compliance.

“All the measures that we can take are necessary and we agree with them,” Ledoux said. “This measure is really important to make sure that no one’s walking in who is infected with COVID.”

However, the long-term care executive expressed concern for his counterparts, residents and families at personal care homes in regions with low vaccine uptake — including the 124-bed Salem Home in Winkler — that are preparing for the added burden of testing and staff shortages if employees refuse.

“It’s startling, frightening and dismaying all at the same time that the staff down there, so many of them are not only refusing to get vaccinated, but refusing to disclose their vaccination status,” Ledoux said.

“That’s totally unprecedented and we’re just really praying for them that they’ll be able to manage it,” Ledoux said.

Late last week, the directors of Salem Home and Tabor Home in Morden sent a letter to families requesting additional support if staff do not report to work or refuse to be tested.

“It is impossible to know what next week will look like, but we are asking for your help in any way you can,” Tabor Home chief executive officer Carolyn Fenny wrote in a letter to families.

“If we do not have enough staff, we may have to go one-step further and ask that you would take your loved one home to look after them, if this is possible for you and your family to manage.”

Requests for comment from the directors of Tabor Home and Salem Home were not returned Sunday.

Meanwhile, in a letter dated Oct. 14, Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 4270 president Darrin Cook cautioned members thinking about walking off the job on Monday instead of submitting their immunization status or taking a rapid test. 

“We cannot support any illegal activity and strongly advise against this,” Cook wrote to members. “This will be deemed abandonment of your job and may result in termination.”

A request for comment from the union was not returned by deadline. The union represents home care providers and a suite of health care support staff in Southern Health.

Cook also told members that union lawyers have determined the public health order does not violate the collective agreement or any human rights. However, he stated in his letter that the union will grieve any terminations as a result of the order.

“We will support your choice, but the consequences of your choice should not have to exceed more than a temporary unpaid leave of absence,” Cook wrote. “We will fight for your right to choose but again all choices come with consequences.”

A Free Press request for an interview with a representative of Southern Health-Sante Sud regarding plans to manage potential staff shortages in the region went unreturned Sunday.

Manitoba NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara said the provincial government should have been prepared to respond to potential labour shortages in hospitals and personal care homes in the wake of the vaccination and testing policy.

“This government has known for months that vaccine uptake in those communities was low and slow, and therefore should have put a clear plan in place to ensure that there’s adequate staffing, that there’s adequate staff hired to provide care to those long term care residents,” Asagwara said.

“Unfortunately, we’re seeing families burdened with responsibilities that many families don’t have the capacity to deal with.”

A spokesman for Shared Health said a final number of healthcare workers who were unvaccinated or did not submit their immunization status was still being tallied as of Sunday.

According to the province, more than 1.3 million rapid tests have been sent to over 600 workplaces across Manitoba.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca