Ottawa’s largest hospitals say they may call in symptomatic health-care workers with COVID-19 to work should their staffing crisis become dire — a policy move that hospitals across the continent are making amid the Omicron surge, say experts.
An internal document by The Ottawa Hospital dated Jan. 5 outlines its decision-making process for when health-care workers are allowed to work should they be exposed to or have COVID-19.
The hospital states that “if exceptionally critical to operations,” workers who’ve tested positive for COVID-19 may be asked to come into work whether they’re symptomatic or asymptomatic.
If approved on a case-by-case basis, staff must work under its “work self-isolation” measure, which means
