The COVID-19 pandemic has upset the working lives of the vast majority of employed citizens, spanning across all types of industry in Chatham-Kent.
Healthcare workers (HCWs), who have been vital to the successful management of the pandemic, were not exempt, Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit officials say.
“Because many healthcare workers are employed by more than one organization across the healthcare system, a number of directives and orders were put in place early in the pandemic,” public health officials said in a press release.
“These orders and directives restricted the number of workplaces staff could work at in an attempt to decrease the risk of spreading COVID-19 between organizations.”
Public health officials added: “Based on the low rates of COVID-19 within Chatham-Kent and the rising vaccination rate of our population both locally and provincially, Chatham-Kent’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Colby, does not believe that there is a need for restrictions to be in place that limit the number of sites in which fully vaccinated HCWs can work.”
While this is Dr. Colby’s recommendation, the onus is still on the employee to ensure they are abiding by any existing workplace policies and procedures at their place(s) of employment, public health officials say.
“All HCWs are encouraged to become fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible to protect themselves, their patients, and health care system capacity,” public health officials say.
“CK Public Health would like to remind the public that people are considered “fully vaccinated” 2 weeks after their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.”
You can book your COVID-19 vaccination appointment online at www.GetYourShotCK.ca or by calling 519-351-1010 and leaving a message.
“Please note that due to extremely high call volume, it may take up to seven business days to return your call,” public health officials added.
The Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit officials also updated their ‘current status’ page of their website on Monday, June 21, 2021.
The active COVID-19 case count rose by one over the weekend and now sits at seven.
Public health officials say an estimated 68% of Chatham-Kent’s population 12 + have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 22% have receives two doses.
A total of 83,868 doses have been administered to date, 63,751 people have received at least one dose and 20,966 people have received two doses.
The total number of COVID-19 cases sits at 1,876 across Chatham-Kent.
CK Public Health officials say one person is hospitalized with COVID-19 from Chatham-Kent.
A total of 1,852 cases have been resolved.
There are currently zero active outbreaks.
Four of the active cases across Chatham-Kent are linked to close contact, one case has information pending, one case is linked to outbreaks outside of Chatham-Kent and one case is unknown.
CK Public Health officials say a total of 243 Chatham-Kent residents have had COVID-19 with a variant of concern or related mutation.
A total of 115,778 tests for the virus have been completed to date.
Since the pandemic began last March, a total of 17 people from Chatham-Kent have died from COVID-19.
