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By Dylana Kneeshaw

COVID-19

Workers returning from Kearl Lake outbreak site reminded of B.C’s self-isolation requirement

May 4, 2020 | 3:23 PM

KAMLOOPS — Health authorities are reminding workers to self-isolate when they return to B.C after working at the Kearl Lake oil sands site in Alberta.

In a joint release from Provincial Health Services Authority, the BC Centre for Disease Control, and the Ministry of Health, it’s noted that workers must self-isolate for 14 days when they come back to the province.

The entire Kearl Lake project is being treated as an outbreak site, and as such anyone who has been at that site since March 24 may have been exposed to COVID-19.

The release notes that Kearl Lake employers may have provided different advice to employees, however B.C workers must follow the B.C order to self-isolate for 14 days.

So far there have been 15 confirmed cases in B.C from this work site. Interior Health says the region has 12 confirmed cases among workers from Kearl Lake, as well as seven confirmed cases of people who did not travel to Kearl Lake but had contact with a worker. Of these 19 cases, 16 people have recovered.

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In today’s update, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry noted that part of the concern was potential transmission to family members when the worker doesn’t know they have the virus.

“We have had occasion where a family member of somebody who has worked in Kearl Lake has come back and not recognized that they’ve had a mild illness, have passed it on to a close contact, and that close contact was a healthcare worker,” Dr. Henry says, “So we need to be very vigilant right now that we’re monitoring ourselves and being very careful where we know that there is risk of transmission of this illness.”

To find a centre where you can be assessed for testing, visit the testing page on the BC CDC website.