The Nova Scotia Health Authority says that only a “small number” of health-care workers have tested positive for COVID-19 over the past several weeks.
However, the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) will not provide details on how many have tested positive or the locations where they work.
“Due to the small number, and the need to protect personal health information, we are unable to report the number as it is less than five provincially,” said NSHA spokesperson Brendan Elliott.
All of the health workers who have tested positive were required to “immediately” quarantine away from their workplace, Elliott said.
The authority confirmed that there are small number of health workers self-isolating as a result of potential exposures to COVID-19.
Elliott said there are 25 health-care workers in isolation who are deemed a “moderate to high risk of exposure.”
Any NSHA staff member or doctor that tests positive for COVID-19 works with the province’s Public Health and Occupational Health Safety and Wellness team to identify those who may have been exposed to the virus.
Close contacts in the same workplace are reviewed by the occupational health and wellness team who assesses their risk of exposure on a “case-by-case” bases, Elliott said.
In addition, the health authority has directed any employee, physician or medical personnel who were at a known public exposure site have been asked to notify their workplace’s occupational health and wellness team and stay home from work for 14-days after the potential exposure.
That’s a decision the NSHA says is being done to reduce any potential COVID-19 transmission to patients and is in addition to the request for anyone at those public exposure sites to get tested for COVID-19.
Several health workers are in self-isolation as a result of being at public exposure locations, the NSHA confirmed on Thursday.
The health authority told Global News that they have contingency plans in case a large number of staff members in a specific department are forced to self-isolate.
This includes diverting staff from one site to another or even bringing in staff and doctors from other locations in the province.