Local government leaders on the Sunshine Coast have succeeded in efforts to make COVID-19 testing available to police and firefighters in the same way it’s currently being made available to workers in the health-care system and paramedics.
In his March 25 update to the community, Gibsons Mayor Bill Beamish thanked “the many health-care workers, doctors, first responders, police and local government workers who continue to provide essential services, often while putting themselves at risk.”
Beamish went on to say that although frontline health-care workers are being tested if they’re suspected of having the virus, “our police and fire workers are not yet offered testing.”
“In response, our elected officials on the Sunshine Coast have sent a joint letter to the Minister of Health asking that this be changed so that the men and woman who are working to keep us safe are in turn kept safe and able to do their jobs,” Beamish wrote.
Beamish told Coast Reporter on March 31 that Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) has now agreed to expand testing eligibility to police and firefighters on the Sunshine Coast, as well as other rural areas within VCH, as a result of lobbying from the Sunshine Coast and local governments in other rural communities, including Squamish and Powell River.
The decision from VCH means police officers or firefighters on the Coast who’ve been following the guidelines to self-isolate because they’re showing symptoms such as a cough can now get a test to determine if they’re COVID free and able to be back on duty or on call, which is not the case elsewhere in the province.
Sechelt Mayor Darnelda Siegers said the unique situation of rural communities with volunteer-based fire departments and smaller RCMP detachments means even having one or two people off work who don’t need to be has a big impact.
She said the fact that local police or firefighters are often first at the scene of calls attended by paramedics makes them frontline workers “who need to be prioritized for testing.”
“We recognize the critical services they provide and we want to make sure we support them all we can,” she said.
Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons supported the local governments in their lobbying effort, and said he’s also hoping to see other changes to the testing criteria.
“I’ve been in regular contact with local governments. In addition to calling for our paramedics to be tested, which was not happening but now is, I’m asking that continued efforts be made to expand testing to other frontline workers,” Simons said. “I’m also advocating for point-of-care testing, which our doctors are requesting. On both counts, I am assured that Dr. Bonnie Henry, the chief medical health officer, is overseeing a strategy for expanding testing when the capacity exists.”
At her March 30 briefing, Henry said the province’s overall testing strategy remains focused on “those most likely to have this disease and those most likely to need health care or hospital care.”
