Hundreds of Quebec health-care workers suspended for refusing regular COVID-19 testing

Spike in COVID-19 cases Quebec recorded more than 1,800 coronavirus cases Thursday, but the health minister said that was to be expected.

Hundreds of Quebec health-care workers have been suspended for refusing to be tested regularly for COVID-19 after the province scrapped its plans to impose mandatory vaccination, the ministry of health said.

According to a tweet from the ministry, 458 workers refused to be screened and have since been suspended without pay, as of Wednesday.

Regular screening of health workers was introduced a month ago in a diversion from earlier plans to impose a Quebec-wide vaccine mandate for all health-care workers. Minister Christian Dubé backtracked after admitting the effect on the health-care system, through the loss of potentially thousands of workers amid an ongoing labour shortage, would be devastating to the health-care network.

Instead of doing that, existing workers were told they would have to undergo regular testing three times a week before their shifts, however, new hires would have to be vaccinated.

Since the new measure was announced, it was revealed that the regular screening was expected to cost the province around $1 million per week to administer the tests. The estimate from November was based on the cost per test — $42 — and the number of unvaccinated workers at the time, which was roughly 8,000.