By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
HALDIMAND—Over the past two years, Haldimand Norfolk Health Unit (HNHU) came under scrutiny for certain restrictions placed on migrant farm workers in the area. These included limiting how many workers could share a bunkhouse, how many could be transported from the airport in one vehicle, and perhaps most controversially, an order which forced migrant workers to remain inside for a 14-day quarantine period.
Those directives were instituted by former Medical Officer of Health (MOH) Dr. Shanker Nesathurai, who has since stepped down from the position and was replaced by Acting MOH Dr. Matt Strauss. We reached out to HNHU to see how those policies have changed this year.
“As the COVID-19 pandemic has evolved, so too has our approach for our agricultural community and seasonal agricultural workers. The Section 22 class order issued in March of 2020 was revoked by our Acting MOH and HNHU’s letter of instruction in regard to transportation to the farm was also lifted. This now allows farms to transport their workers from the airport to their living accommodations how they see fit – whether that be on the CanAg buses that is the typical method utilized, or arranging travel themselves,” said Syed Shah, Acting Director of Public Health.
He continued, “Furthermore, revoking of the Section 22 Order has removed the provision for our farms to quarantine agricultural workers up to a maximum of three within a bunkhouse upon arrival, if required (this only applies to any unvaccinated workers entering Canada).”
For 2022, HNHU will stick to federal guidelines and requirements with no additional restrictions. Currently, these federal requirements indicate that agricultural workers can quarantine together as long as they have beds distanced two metres apart, no bunk beds are used during this time frame, and they can socially/physically distance by two metres in all other shared spaces. Federal regulations also require individuals be tested upon arrival and eight days later.
“Where seasonal agricultural workers are arriving and are fully vaccinated they would not be subject to federal quarantine, and living arrangements on-site have more flexibility in bedroom arrangements than during the peak of the pandemic,” explained Shah. He noted it is recommended to maintain two metres between beds and reduce the use of bunkbeds, but farmers have flexibility in the layout and use of physical barriers between beds “if they’d like.”
Seasonal workers will have access to both PCR and rapid antigen tests should COVID symptoms become known on a jobsite. Shah said there is still a COVID guidance document that is “sector specific relating to farms and farm outbreaks that is still to be adhered to and followed.”
This guidance document outlines measures farms should still be taking to ensure the safety of their workers, such as on-farm transportation, cohorting options for working/living groups, PPE use, and having a COVID safety plan in place.
“As for COVID outbreaks in seasonal agricultural worker settings, currently the health units still have an active role in assisting and mitigating the spread of the virus and managing outbreaks on farms. The outbreak guidance document for farms was updated in January 2022 to reflect the changes in the pandemic and changes in our population, such as vaccinations,” said Shah.
Currently, any symptomatic and/or positive worker on a farm would be isolated, as would their household close contacts, based on their individual vaccination status. Any other individuals who may have had interactions with symptomatic and/or positive individuals would not need to isolate if fully vaccinated and would self-monitor for symptoms for a 10-day period from last day of exposure.
On the controversy surrounding HNHU’s directives related to migrant workers, Shah offered some insight behind the decision-making process over the last two years.
“In 2020 our jurisdiction experienced a handful of large COVID-19 outbreaks on farms. These outbreaks impacted hundreds of seasonal agricultural workers and resulted in some severe illness, hospitalizations, and a loss of life. Each outbreak was significantly different due to numerous factors that presented at the time. There were barriers and stigmatization that hindered workers from coming forward with symptoms, many asymptomatic cases that could have increased the transmission rate before a symptomatic case presented itself, distrust in the public health system, etc. However, public health interventions helped limit further spread in some situations and limited potential for severe illness. At that time vaccination was not an option.”
He continued, “Moving in to 2021, the federal government changed their quarantine requirements – they introduced a testing strategy….
“This implementation ‘flushed out’ a significant amount of asymptomatic cases, and some symptomatic catches as well.”
Shah said that “the benefit of the ‘three-man rule’ … really was showcased during 2021” as the increased testing caught cases earlier, and with only three people to a room this “limited transmission significantly and reduced the number of individuals impacted by a prolonged quarantine/isolation period.”
As a result, Shah said that 99% of local outbreaks related to the migrant farm worker community occurred during their initial quarantine period and were “very small in scale.”
“Coupled with the introduction of the COVID vaccine with these workers being a priority population, we saw no large farm outbreaks in 2021, and only a few ‘post-isolation’ outbreaks with very few individuals involved. Farms were more educated in COVID-19 safety by this point,” said Shah, adding that agricultural associations and organizations also had more resources to assist farms. “We believe these results were not due to any one single factor, but a combination of increased education and awareness, enhanced testing during federal quarantine, HNHU’s housing rules, the vaccination roll-out, and public health intervention during outbreak situations.”
He concluded with some optimistic thoughts for the coming farm season: “We are hopeful that as we move forward in 2022 with an evolving state of living with COVID, that where we may have workers who are symptomatic and/or positive, the impact on the individuals will be lessened – showcased by mild symptoms, less severe illness, and the need for less public health interventions.”
