Canada Live NEWS – 24/7 Breaking Headlines & Updates Canada Live News is one of the largest news curating sites across Canada which is made exclusively for Canadian people.
Health care workers represent a quarter of all confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in Quebec during the first wave.
Health care workers represent a quarter of all confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in Quebec during the first wave.
They were 10 times more at risk of contracting the virus, indicates a study by the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) published Wednesday.
Between March 1 and June 14, 2020, 13,581 healthcare workers tested positive for COVID-19 and 11 of them died (0.8%), we learn. Of these, 11,223 were asked to respond to a questionnaire as part of this study and 45% (5,074) participated.
Among these infected workers, 70% were either orderlies, nurses or nursing assistants, while doctors represent only 3% of patients.
The INSPQ notes that these workers report several “deficient elements in the organization of work related to infection prevention and control”.
Thus, during the period studied, between 20% and 30% of the workers questioned worked in more than one installation of the health network and 10% in 3 or more installations.
Also, 44% of them report having had no training in infection prevention and control or having only received written or posted information on the subject.
“The first research indicating a risk of contagion in asymptomatic people was not published until several weeks after the appearance of the virus in Quebec, reacted the office of the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé. Faced with this state of affairs, the [ministère de la Santé] quickly reviewed the staff deployment strategy to avoid further contamination. ”
