{"id":13793,"date":"2020-03-31T07:30:13","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T10:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=13793"},"modified":"2020-03-31T07:30:13","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T10:30:13","slug":"residents-seeks-answers-to-covid19-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=13793","title":{"rendered":"Residents seeks answers to COVID19 concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FALL RIVER: <\/strong>Concern over essential service workers within the civil service sector, who may work out of the province returning to live in a household and exposing those living with them to COVID19, led two Fall River area residents to submit that question to The Laker News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Laker News\ntook their question and concern to the provincial COVID media line looking for\nan answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the\nquestion as it was asked by one of the two residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cC<\/strong>urrently\nthere are essential services within civil servant sectors that are working in\noffice on a rotation schedule and working from home the remaining time,\u201d the\nmessage said. \u201cThe travel rules within Canada, province to province now require\nthose returning to Nova Scotia to self isolate for 14 days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever they may be returning to live with other family members. Those family members are now potentially exposed to the virus. We know that someone does not have to be exhibiting symptoms to be carrying the virus. We also know that the majority of positive tests are from those who have traveled.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The message then went on to get to the meat of their concern\/question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe question is why are those individuals who are now also potentially\nexposed told by their employers that they do not have to self isolate if they\nare not showing symptoms and to report to work as per their rotation schedule?\nHow can employers be assured they are not a risk to other\u2019s in the work\nplace? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The\nPremier and Dr. Strang always reference the comment that if you can work from\nhome do so. Many employees can work from home, but the employers may not allow\nthem that option because they say they are not required to self isolate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I\nfind it really hard to wrap my head around isolating the risk, but not the\npeople who are living with the risk when we know how highly contagious this\nvirus is.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nanswering the question, Marla MacInnis, one of the provincial COVID19 media\nspokeswomen, had the following to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf an\nindividual in a household is required to self-isolate, they should remain\nseparate from others in the home, as much as possible,\u201d said MacInnis. \u201cRegularly\nclean and disinfect common areas, at least daily or as needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to self-monitor for any symptoms of illness. Others in a\nhousehold do not have to self-isolate unless the person who is self isolating\nbecomes unwell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She spoke about businesses in concluding the response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBusinesses that remain open must ensure they can maintain social\ndistance of two metres or six feet between clients and customers,\u201d she said. \u201cIf\nsocial distance can\u2019t be maintained, the business must limit the number of\ncustomers or clients on its premises to no more than five people at a time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBusinesses should regularly clean and disinfect workspaces and\nhigh-touch areas at least twice a day or more if required, and ensure employees\nare practicing good hygiene.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MacInnis said workplaces have a duty to take precautions to ensure the\nhealth and safety of persons at the workplace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFurthermore, employers and employees must follow the orders issued\nunder the Health Protection Act,\u201d she said. \u201cIf an employee feels their\nemployer is not complying with an order under the Health Protection Act, such\nas social distancing, they should report this concern to their immediate\nsupervisor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said if the issue is not resolved, they should report to their joint occupational health and safety committee if one exists, and if needed, contact the Safety Branch at 1-800-9-Labour or LAESafetyBranch@novascotia.ca. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FALL RIVER: Concern over essential service workers within the civil service sector, who may work out of the province returning to live in a household and exposing those living with them to COVID19, led two Fall River area residents to submit that question to The Laker News. The Laker News took their question and concern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[957],"tags":[992,975,2],"class_list":["post-13793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-conccerns","tag-covid19","tag-fall-river"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}