As the Quebec government plans to impose an immunization mandate for health-care workers, an emergency room at a Montreal hospital is being closely monitored after an unvaccinated nurse tested positive for COVID-19.
The CIUSSS de l’Ouest de l’Île-de-Montréal, the regional health authority, confirmed Friday that the health-care worker was in contact with a patient at the Lakeshore General Hospital. The patient has developed symptoms.
Hélène Bergeron-Gamache, spokesperson for the health authority, said that while the nurse was not vaccinated she did take other precautions. She was tested three times a week and wore a mask at all times.
The nurse was removed from her unit as soon as the result of her test was known, according to the CIUSSS. Authorities say an investigation is underway “to determine if there is an epidemiological link” between the two COVID-19 cases.
“It should be noted that infection prevention and control measures have been ramped up,” Bergeron-Gamache wrote in an email to Global News.
The regional health authority also said it will continue to “strongly encourage staff and physicians to be vaccinated and to respect infection prevention and control standards with the same vigour as that observed since the start of the pandemic.”
Elizabeth Rich, vice-president of the nurses union at the Lakeshore General Hospital, said the majority of nurses and doctors in Quebec are vaccinated. At the Lakeshore, the other rules to curb the spread of the virus are strict and enforced, she added.
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“People are wearing masks and PPE like they are supposed to, to make sure they are safe and safe for others,” she said, adding that “everyone takes it seriously.”
The news comes as the Quebec government held committee hearings over its plan to impose a vaccine mandate for health-care workers. The province will require those who are in regular contact with patients to get vaccinated or risk being reassigned or suspended without pay.
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Employees in both the public and private health system will have until Oct. 15 to get both doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
Health Minister Christian Dubé argued Thursday the health order is necessary to protect patients. The majority of health-care workers are vaccinated, he added, but nearly 30,000 people in the field are not.
The vaccine mandate has garnered mixed reactions from professional orders and unions. Rich said some health-care workers could still refuse the vaccine.
“There are a number that say that nobody is going to make them be obligated to get the vaccine and they will leave,” Rich said.
—with files from The Canadian Press
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