At least 915 Manitoba health-care workers off sick with COVID-19 over holidays

Over the winter holiday, more than 900 health-care workers in Manitoba tested positive for COVID-19, Shared Health says.

Between Dec. 26 and Jan. 1, 915 staff in the health-care system became ill, including 194 nurses or nurses in training and 29 doctors or doctors in training, a spokesperson said in an email.The remaining people are allied health workers, EMS and support staff.

Of those cases, 46 have been connected to outbreaks.

"We are grateful to our dedicated staff who are continuing to provide patient care despite very challenging circumstances. We also wish staff who are off sick a speedy return to good health," the spokesperson said.

The 915 cases aremore than double the previous week, when 423 people tested positive for COVID-19.

But Shared Health says that's likely an under-count. That'sbecause the 915 cases are just those who received a positive PCR test and doesn't account for those who screened positive on rapid tests and then called in sick.

Shared Health says sick timefor the most recent two-week pay period is equivalent to 6.78 per cent of all hours worked, and is up from the same time last year when it was6.04 per cent.

The difference amounts to more than 6,000 hours per week, or about 750 eight-hour shifts.

Before the pandemic in 2019, the rate of sick leave for this same pay period was 5.35 per cent of all hours worked.

The difference between the 2019 pay period and the most recent one is about 16,000 hours per week, or about 2,000 eight-hour shifts.

This comes as more and more Manitobans are being hospitalized for the virus.

As of Friday, there were 297 people in hospital with COVID-19, up by 34 from the day before. Thirty-four people were in intensive care at that time as well.

Shared Health said there are 90 people in intensive care as of Saturday, including those who don't have COVID-19. Before the pandemic, the baseline capacity for ICU patients was 72.

Shared Health continues to advocate for all Manitobans to get the COVID-19 vaccine as well as the booster if they're eligible.