More than 80 Manitoba direct-care workers on unpaid leave over public health order compliance: Shared Health

WINNIPEG -

With the province's rules requiring vaccinations or regular testing now in effect, more than 80 Manitoba direct-care workers in the health-care system have been placed on an unpaid leave of absence.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Shared Health told CTV News 85 people are on leave related to "compliance with public health orders."

Shared Health said no service disruptions have been reported since the people were put on leave.

"As part of contingency planning, coverage for absent staff have come a number of areas – including the redeployment of staff, volunteers for our COVID casual pool, staff who are willing to travel to provide support at other sites and managers," the spokesperson said in a written statement.

As of Monday, provincial employees who work directly with vulnerable people are required to be fully vaccinated or go through regular testing. Of the roughly 42,000 direct-care workers, Shared Health said 36,500 completed the disclosure process.

"Additional disclosures continue to be received. We are aware of a significant number of sites and managers where paper forms have been collected. These will be manually entered over the coming days and weeks."

For those who have disclosed, Shared Health added just under 35,000 said they are fully vaccinated, which is more than 95.9 per cent of submissions.

As of Friday, 1,800 workers were identified as requiring testing.