Health workers are not spared from the new rise in the number of COVID-19 cases hitting the province. There are currently 6,659 healthcare workers absent for reasons related to COVID-19, which is 1,037 more than last week.
Posted at 12:00 a.m.
“It’s shaping up to be a tough summer,” says the DD Amélie Boisclair, intensivist at Pierre-Le Gardeur hospital in Terrebonne. She herself contracted COVID-19 at the end of June. A colleague had offered to replace her.
“He had just worked 21 days in the month in intensive care and we had to add four days to him. If no one had been able to replace me, I would have had to come back sooner,” said the doctor, who was in isolation for 10 days.
The absences caused by the virus add to the shortage of personnel in the network. “The workload for those who stay on the floor is heavier. We are in a downward spiral,” she said.
At the beginning of June, the province recorded 3,670 absences related to COVID-19 among health care workers, about half of what is currently recorded. “These are indicators that are going in the wrong direction and that prove that we are at the beginning of a new wave”, says the Dr Donald Vinh, infectious disease specialist and microbiologist at the McGill University Health Center.
A fragile system
The Dr Vinh worries about the state of the healthcare system. “When health care workers are taken away because they are sick, the system becomes even more fragile. It’s like the game of Jenga. We try to move the blocks without making everything fall, in particular by reassigning personnel. But one day, the tower will fall, ”he illustrates.
The infectious disease specialist maintains that the health personnel “are exhausted both mentally and physically”. “Besides, sometimes they have to lose their holidays to fill in the gaps,” he says.
The Dr Joseph Dahine, intensivist at the Cité-de-la-Santé hospital in Laval, adds. “We are lucky that the weather is nice, that it is sunny for a long time, it helps morale. But if it ruins everyone’s vacation and gets worse in the fall, that won’t be good news. That’s what I fear,” he said.
“A big challenge”
For the Dr Matthew Oughton, infectious disease specialist at the Jewish General Hospital, the absences that accumulate in the health network represent a major challenge, at a time when occupancy rates are inflated in several sectors of the metropolis, including the main ones, such as Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital or the University of Montreal Hospital Center (CHUM).
“The more difficult it becomes for people to work in the health network, the more complicated it will be to retain workers and attract new ones. And this is what we have been seeing for a while now: we are losing good employees, instead of recruiting them, ”worries the Dr Oughton.
What is happening, he says, “is still pressure on a system that is functioning at a sub-optimal level,” says the expert again. He also recalls in passing that the strong transmission of the virus in the network “necessarily reflects the community transmission of COVID-19”, also very present in the population.
I say it and I repeat it: that is why it is becoming urgent to relaunch PCR screening in the entire population, to get a better idea of the situation. Analysis of wastewater alone is not sufficient.
The Dr Matthew Oughton, infectious disease specialist at the Jewish General Hospital
At MUHC, absent HCWs do not appear to have contracted COVID-19 while in hospital, says Dr.r Vinh. “There’s no outbreak, so that suggests healthcare workers are infected in the community,” he said.
This situation seems to be widespread throughout the health network. “Healthcare workers are citizens like everyone else, so they go to restaurants and they take public transport. They are very aware of the risks, but they cannot be asked to completely isolate themselves, ”says the DD Clear wood.
SHARP INCREASE IN DEATHS
Community transmission also continues to be felt in the province. Quebec reported 20 new deaths on Tuesday, an increase of 67% over one week. Quebec is also reporting an increase of 147 hospitalizations since Saturday. The 1,441 people currently hospitalized represent an increase of 18% over one week. In intensive care, the 39 patients represent an increase of 8% over one week. Prime Minister François Legault, however, said on Tuesday “not to expect a major increase” in COVID-19 cases this summer. Quebec will, however, particularly monitor the month of September, “when the children return to school”.
With Pierre-André Normandin and William Thériault, The Pressand The Canadian Press