While authorities are seeking solutions to the many problems of COVID-19 outbreaks in hospitals and missing employees, some are of the opinion that workers in hospitals should be vaccinated as a priority to avoid that the situation does not deteriorate further.
Currently, only employees who work with the elderly have priority for vaccination.
• Read also: Hospitals shouldn’t overflow at Christmas
In Montreal, outbreaks in healthcare workers have been reported at Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur, Maisonneuve-Rosemont, Santa Cabrini and Verdun.
Same story with the Lakeshore Hospital, where the president of the union of health care professionals of the West Island of Montreal is concerned.
“There are COVID patients who walk in the elevator with staff to take exams on another floor,” says Johanne Riendeau.
“Yes, the vulnerable clientele remains the elderly and we must not go overboard. On the other hand, we must think of health workers in hospitals so that they are there to treat. There is a hospitalization rate unlike anything we’ve seen before.
“It’s important that everyone is at their post.”
As of Friday, there were 27,400 health care workers infected.
Fortunately, despite a marked increase in cases of 60% of COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, there is no shortage of beds during the critical period of the holiday season, according to the Institute of Excellence in Health and Social Services ( INESSS).
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