HALIFAX -- Working out West and living in the Maritimes comes with challenges, and sacrifices, but for those workers during the pandemic, it's been much more painful.
"It's incredibly tough, because I've essentially spent the last four months in isolation, at work and then at home," said oilfield worker Adam Wiseman. "It's really no life."
Wiseman lives in Glace Bay, but travels to Alberta for work. He's there for 10 days, and then home for 10, but with COVID-19, any time spent at home is in isolation because of the 14-day rule.
"I had to go home and try to explain to my three children at home, that don't get too close to daddy," Wiseman said. "How do you explain to three children that there's a global pandemic?"
With the Atlantic bubble, and easing of restrictions, most people are getting to see family and friends.
Wiseman wants the government to test workers as soon as they arrive home and says he's tried to address his concerns with his local MLA, but there's been no response.
"Why are we not able to be tested when we come home from work," Wiseman said. "If we're able to be tested, then we can isolate while waiting for results. If it comes back positive then we quarantine, and if the test comes back negative, I don't see why we can't follow public health protocols like the rest of the population."
According to an email from the province, workers who are asymptomatic, with low risk of exposure because of the settings they have been in and their adherence to public health measures, can have contact with other people in their household, but must not leave the home or property.
When results are negative, the province says it does not guarantee a person won't become positive the next day or within the next 14 days.
"It just seems like we've been forgotten about," Wiseman said. "While they try to progress the economy and let people into the province with the Atlantic bubble, we haven't been addressed."
It's a frustrating feeling for workers providing for their families during uncertain times.
