COVID-19, other respiratory viruses sideline more Maritime health-care workers

A week-to-week increase in the number of Maritime health-care employees off work due to COVID-19 infections and exposures are adding to absences caused by early spikes in other respiratory viruses.

The Nova Scotia Health Authority is reporting 129 health-care workers unable to work due to COVID-19, compared to 107 employees the week before.

The IWK Health Centre in Halifax says it’s “seeing an increase in sick calls” but didn’t have a current tally of employees off work due to COVID-19 on Thursday.

On Prince Edward Island, Health PEI is reporting 20 health-care employees who are absent due to COVID-19, compared to seven last Thursday.

Between New Brunswick’s two health authorities, a total of 148 health-care workers are off duty due to COVID-19.

As of Tuesday, the Horizon Health Network is reporting 92 absent employees due to COVID-19, compared to 68 recorded on Nov. 22.

The Vitalité Health Network is reporting 56 employees off work due to COVID-19, compared to 31 the week before.

The statistics provided don’t account for absences attributed to other illnesses, including seasonal influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

“RSV and influenza are seeing an earlier rise than we normally, typically would,” says Dr. Leisha Hawker, President of Doctors Nova Scotia. “And I think we’ll just see a longer duration of the winter illnesses.”

Hawker says doctors, who are able to, are keeping up care through virtual means –- even when they’re ill.

“There’s two sides to that,” says Hawker. “On the one hand, it’s great because we’re not rebooking all of our patients and trying to fit them in the next week or two. But on the other hand, we’re not taking those full days off to really recover like we used to before the pandemic.”