High attendance rate | The sixth wave shakes the regions strongly

(Quebec, Montreal) The absence of about 11,100 health workers on the ground due to COVID-19 is a major burden on the network. In one week, non-attendance increased by 30%. The sixth wave of the epidemic is hitting companies very strongly outside of Greater Montreal, we saw. Press.

Fanny Levesque
Press

Arian Lagorsier
Press

About 5.3% of health workers in the Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine region, which includes two Integrated Health and Community Service Centers (CISSS), have been laid off due to trade, a sign that the new wave is hitting regions hard. To the virus. This ratio makes Quebec the region with the highest number of non-employees.

Code-Nord (4.9%), Sagune-Lock-Saint-Gene (4.8%) and Capitol-National (4.4%) are followed by regionally divided data according to the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS). Compared to April 4., this rate is currently 3.7% in Montreal.

“The lack of health workers due to COVID-19 is putting some pressure on the network,” said Lou Landry, spokesman for the CISSS de la Gaspésie. “We are taking all possible measures to ensure the maintenance of the services and to minimize the impact of this withdrawal on employees,” he said.

30% increase

CISSS de la Gaspésie “forced extra time needed as little as possible” and did not close the door to review the structure of the work.

Exactly one week ago, the number of workers leaving the network due to Govt-19 reached 8,500. In seven days it has increased by 30%. The BA.2 variant is known to be highly contagious – ranging from 30% to 40% depending on D^R. Luc Boileau – The first strain of Omigron to cause a tsunami in Quebec. At the beginning of January, at least 20,000 network employees were missing.

Of the 11,141 employees who are absent, nearly 900 are awaiting the end of the screening test and 1,130 have been isolated. It should be noted that 1300 workers are on preventive measures and 460 are immunocompromised and therefore do not go to work.

In addition, 317 employees have been suspended without pay for refusing to submit to screenings three times a week due to their vaccination status. More than 5,580 employees benefit from payroll insurance benefits, which means that according to the MSSS they are more likely to be infected with the virus “in the personal environment”, and 1,441 are eligible for the Commission’s de l’économie, Occupational Health and Safety (CNESST).

Fear of spilling

This new increase in the number of affected workers d^D. Judy Morris is president of the Association of Emergency Physicians of Quebec (AMUQ).

“It feels like we’re in the same movie in December,” he says.

D.^D. Already, Morris points out, many hospitals are on the verge of collapse. He says the risk of being offloaded is very real as more cases and the number of affected workers increases.

D estimates that the removal of several activities in recent weeks may “give the impression that the epidemic is behind us”.^D. Morris.

In the CISSS du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, in the absence of 527 workers, officials say they are “monitoring the evolution of the situation from day to day”, but “in general service mode maintenance mode”. CISSS has been able to maintain Level 2 loading since February.

Significant increase

Dr. President of the Association of Emergency Medical Specialists of Quebec.^R. Gilbert Boucher also notes a significant increase in the number of health workers affected. “It comes mainly from schools, daycare, groups …”, he says. Added to these shortcomings is the fact that companies these days are making every effort to avoid imposing forced overtime. A good thing, according to D^R. Butcher. But it has consequences.

On Sunday, 12% of patients who came to the emergency room in Quebec left without seeing a doctor, or 1,000. This number has been around 300 to 600 since the outbreak began.

D notes that the province’s emergency rooms have been busy for two weeks^R. Butcher. On Monday, 33% of patients on stretchers in the emergency room were waiting for a bed on the floor.

D.^R. Hong Duang, president of the Quebec Internal Medicine Association, wants to be more confident.

He believes that this sixth wave of staff shortages will hit the network a little less, with the isolation period imposed mainly on affected workers being shorter than previous waves. “The ones that are not are short. So that helps,” he says.

FSSSS-CSN wants Quebec to retain the right to relocate staff until December 2022, despite the removal of a health emergency.

“Despite the government’s promise not to use 007 as summer approaches, the government is apprehensive. […]True [le] Strikes, he changes his speech, for example, we cancel the holiday, ”said President Region Leklerk. Order 007 suspends the terms of collective agreements.