How An Irresponsible Health Care Worker Starts New Covid Cases In Our Province

Do you trust your doctor? I do trust mine - normally. But our trust can get on shaky ground when we hear about malpractice or simple sloppyness. A case of an unspeakable irresponsibility happened just a few days ago in our home province. After having fought down the Covid-19 cases to zero, a health care worker (which is a male doctor) travelled to neighbouring Quebec. picked up the virus there and returned to New Brunswick, without following provincial law and quarantine for 14 days. Then he went back to work treating hundreds of patients. The results are devastating. As of today 6 people have already tested positive. But the contact base for all people who had been with this doctor is stretching far and wide across the province.

On Wednesday, Premier Blaine Higgs announced a medical professional in their 50s, travelled to Quebec for personal reasons, "was not forthcoming about their reasons for travel upon returning to New Brunswick and he did not self-isolate as a result."

This professional then saw patients for two weeks at the Campbellton Regional Hospital and possibly other locations, forcing Higgs to order that region back into a stricter phase of pandemic recovery, known as the orange phase.

The policy for any health-care workers who travel outside the province for any reason is to self-isolate for 14 days. "It is mandatory."

Information about the case has been passed along to the RCMP to determine exactly what took place and whether charges are warranted.

As this case shows, the spread of the virus happens through travel (movement). In the case of this careless doctor it has led to a major setback for thousands of people. And it makes me wonder about the consequences when protesters are getting out on the streets, when people gather along beaches, and businesses and public parks are opening up - with other words, when the economy takes a front seat. In a couple of weeks we will know more, both here at home, and south of the border. But one thing is very clear: The International border will stay closed all summer long, and if a 2.wave of the virus will hit the country, it may stay closed until next year.