Six positive cases of COVID-19 identified in unvaccinated health-care employees

WINNIPEG -

Six unvaccinated Manitoba health-care workers have tested positive for COVID-19 in the first two weeks of the province's screening program.

The cases were identified through rapid antigen testing and subsequently confirmed with PCR tests.

The province's vaccine mandate for front-line workers requires public sector workers who have contact with the public to be fully vaccinated or agree to regular rapid testing to stay on the job.

That policy took effect on October 18, but some think the policy has holes.

"We're instigating a system that is not really foolproof,” said Dr. Samir Sinha, the director of geriatrics at Sinai Health in Toronto. “We've instigated a system that might make us feel better and might make us feel like we're doing something rather than nothing."

Sinha, a former Winnipegger, said unvaccinated staff providing a negative rapid test 48 hours before a shift is not an equal substitute to being fully vaccinated.

"The problem with testing is it only tells you what’s happening at a certain point in time,” said Sinha. “It doesn’t guarantee that person hasn’t gotten COVID either before or after that test."

So far in Manitoba about 36,000 – or 95 per cent – of direct care health-care workers have stated they are fully vaccinated, with another 1800 requiring testing. Of those, six have since tested positive for COVID-19 and their results confirmed by the more sensitive PCR test.

Three are in the Prairie Mountain health region, two in the Southern health region and one in the Winnipeg health region.

Cynthia Carr, Epidemiologist and founder of Epi Research, said this shows using rapid testing as a screening tool can give some level of protection.

"Because those people again if they were asymptomatic, which they likely were, would've known as fast as possible so that they didn’t enter the workplace," Carr said.

But she agrees regular testing is not a replacement for vaccination.

"The gold standard for everyone should be vaccination, for your own health and for the health of those around you."

Sinha is also concerned the rapid testing programs are not being monitored.

"This is where things go wrong and this is where we have the risk of having a real negative outcome," said Sinha.

When it comes to other provincial employees that fall under the vaccine mandate, a provincial spokesperson told CTV News those test results are not considered sharable data because individual test results are not tracked as it may potentially violate personal health information.

They noted more than 99 per cent of designated staff are complying with the policy to be vaccinated or participate in testing.