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As the Newfoundland and Labrador premier on Monday stared at the camera barrel and offered a stern warning to shift workers, some of those workers sat in solitary confinement or in distant labor camps and worried about how much pressure they would face at home.
As of Monday, the province had seen 52 new cases of COVID-19 since September. Those cases, while tiny compared to many other provinces in Canada, came after months of calm and series of weeks without any cases.
In total, 18 infected people came directly from Alberta and 16 of these were from workers returning to the province. Other workers have returned from places like Ontario and Manitoba with the virus.
Rotating workers have been blamed for two recent outbreaks – one in Deer Lake and one in Grand Bank – when the virus has spread to family members and close contacts.
One worker, who spoke to CBC News on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals at home, said the cumulative effect of working in a hot spot and returning home to people in fear of him was overwhelming.
“Morale is very low,” said the man as he sat in his room at one of six outbreak sites in the tar sands of northern Alberta. “It looks like a prison.”
The camp has 800 workers and 39 have tested positive for the virus. There has not been a positive case in over a week, but the camp remains blocked with no new workers entering from outside for two weeks.
If a Newfoundland and Labrador person is identified as a close contact of an infected worker, they may spend 14 days alone in their room before they can go home.
More than the virus or the isolation, it is the homecoming that worries him.
“The only part that really gives me anxiety is reading how the general population feels about rolling workers by reading nasty comments online, as well as the government’s refusal to entertain the entry tests.”
This worker, like many others, has asked the provincial government to test the workers as soon as they return home.
On Monday, Premier Andrew Furey said there is no science to back the idea. In some cases, workers tested negative after five days at home and subsequently tested positive.
With this in mind, Furey announced that the province was changing its testing regime for rolling workers to add another two days of isolation before testing.
A worker must now receive a negative test after seven days of isolation, instead of five.
Furey spoke directly to the rotation workers and conveyed a serious message.
“Let me be very clear, the rotating workers must continue to adhere to the measures put in place by [Chief Medical Officer of Health] Dr. [Janice] Fitzgerald and his public health team, “he said.” This is of the utmost importance to our many workers engaged in rotation. To this group I tell that I know that traveling during the pandemic was stressful enough for you and your families, but please, please, I implore you to follow the provincial guidelines. We have shown that when we do it works and one is enough. We all need to work together and support each other. “
The premier invited companies in places like Alberta to consider changing shifts to 30 days and 30 days off. This would allow workers more time with their families when they return home.
The worker who spoke to CBC News doesn’t expect his request to receive much consideration from companies that employ rotating workers.
Much of the workforce is made up of people who live in western Canada and won’t want to work for a straight month without commuting the relatively short distance from home. Companies also have structured schedules with cohorts of workers joining in shifts to reduce the number of contacts per person. If housing were made only for Newfoundland and Labrador workers, that balance would be lost, he said.
NL has a long history of rotational work
Another worker who spoke to CBC News said people need to consider the number of workers traveling to and from places like Alberta, and then look at the number of cases.
Although current data was not available at the time of publication, a 2016 study conducted by Memorial University put the Newfoundland and Labrador workforce in Alberta alone at more than 8,000 people on average annually from 2002 to 2016.
That number peaked in 2008, with over 25,000 people calling Canada’s easternmost province while working elsewhere.
Newfoundland and Labradorians have occasionally faced criticism in Alberta for earning high wages and spending the money at home. They are now facing scrutiny from their neighbors for working outside.
Six cases have erupted in Grand Bank, including two in a long-term care home. Tensions are high in the small town and fingers have been pointed at a rotational worker and his family.
In an interview on Monday, Grand Bank Mayor Rex Matthews urged people to stay calm.
“People who work in rotation, sacrifice themselves,” he said. “They go to other provinces of this country for work, they leave their families, they leave their home, they leave their community and this helps our economy. So in normal circumstances there are no problems, but these are extraordinary times”.
The situation has some rolling workers considering a new career, said another man who spoke to CBC News.
Works short contracts at numerous sites in Alberta. In each location, he works mostly in isolation and spends his downtime in isolation. Even outdoors, away from other people, he said, he can be fired for not wearing a mask.
“I don’t think people realize the rules we have to follow. This is what I think people are missing out on,” he said.
When he returns home, he isolates himself away from his family until a test comes back negative. This means that his children are a wall away and he cannot hug them.
He said he’s not alone in his reservations about continuing with this career. There is no end to the pandemic in sight, and for some workers that could mean living longer in isolation than out of it for another six months, a year or more.
“I’m definitely starting to think about staying home a little longer,” he said. “I don’t know when we will return to normal.”
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
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