Self-isolation frustration continues for N.B.’s rotational workers

Self-isolation stresses N.B. rotational workers Amid COVID-19, rotational workers are being forced into 14-day isolation periods upon returning to N.B. Alyson Samson reports.

HALIFAX — Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, frustration is mounting among rotational workers in New Brunswick who have been forced into 14 day isolation periods upon returning home. During an already challenging time, isolation only adds more stress to their situation.

Under new isolation rules in New Brunswick, rotational workers, like Marc Worden, will no longer be offered a COVID-19 test and will have to self-isolate regardless.

A miner for BC Hydro, Worden has been a rotational worker for seven years. During the pandemic, he has been working away for 14-day periods and returning home for 7-day periods.

"Unfortunately, this trip home, unless I have a symptom, which I don't, they won't test rotational workers," says Worden. "The only thing I could to do get tested is if I called them and I lied – I don't lie."

For others, the struggle is also felt.

On Monday, Jenn MacPherson's family shared a tear-filled goodbye as her husband departed for a new rotational job based in Finland. After he lost his former rotational job based in Saskatchewan due to the pandemic, they lost their home and struggled to stay afloat for months.

"I didn't sign up to be a single parent, and he didn't sign up to be a dad who never got to see his kids or his wife," says MacPherson. "So, the thought of not being able to see him when he came home – how are [were] we going to pay for a hotel on top of trying to catch up from a year of not having steady income?"

On Wednesday, the province of Nova Scotia added people who regularly travel in and out of the province for work, such as truck drivers and rotational workers, to a list of those prioritized in phase two of its vaccination rollout.

"The queue two priorities, I do not see that group in that priority list," said New Brunswick Minister of Health Dorthy Shephard on Thursday during a press conference. "But again, it is an evolving situation as the vaccines become available."

"They had an outbreak of cases shortly after Christmas," says Worden. "I'm not a doctor or a scientist; I'm a miner. It was after Christmas; everybody went shopping, everybody went visiting, everybody went everywhere."

On Thursday, a request sent by CTV News to the New Brunswick government for numbers of COVID-19 cased related to rotational workers was received but was not answered by news time.