Essential workers with COVID-19 in Quebec won't have to take time off

Essential workers in Quebec who test positive for COVID-19 will still be allowed to continue working.

During a Tuesday afternoon press conference, Quebec’s Health Minister Christian Dubé announced that amid a rise in COVID-19 cases across the province, some essential workers — including those in the healthcare network — will be allowed to continue working.

Dubé says the initiative is so as not to remove any workers from Quebec’s workforce who are essential to controlling the pandemic. He says the Omicron variant is “so exceptional” that removing any essential workers would cause too much of a risk.

Le ministre de la Santé fait le point sur la situation sanitaire actuelle. On doit continuer de limiter les hospitalisations.

🎥 Pour nous suivre en direct 👉 https://t.co/2L8gbMlkK3

— François Legault (@francoislegault) December 28, 2021

Dubé says Quebec has health with a “significant” increase in cases over the past couple of weeks and says the new measures are important to stressing out an already-thinned out healthcare network.

The health minister says the new measures are “risk management” and a way to “balance things out.”

Dubé also announced he expects all eligible Quebecers to have their third dose of a Health Canada-approved COVID-19 vaccine by March 2022.

On Tuesday, Quebec reported more than 12,000 new daily COVID-19 cases, the province’s highest ever recorded.