Sudbury's Pioneer Manor short-staffed due to Omicron

Due to an active COVID-19 outbreak Sudbury's Pioneer Manor is short about eight per cent of its staff.

The city-owned and operated long-term care facility has been the most significant municipal service affected by the rapidly spreading Omicron variant, said Kevin Fowke, the City of Greater Sudbury's general manager of corporate services. 

Fowke said the city has a community control group that meets on a weekly basis to discuss how city staff might be redeployed to critical areas if necessary.

Despite the staffing shortage at Pioneer Manor, Fowke said the Omicron variant has not yet had a significant impact on city services.

"But certainly the executive leadership team, and working with our community control group partners across the city, will be watching to make sure that we have the capacity we need to deliver those services moving forward," he said. 

Fowke said the city redeployed about 200 employees earlier in the pandemic to more critical areas. When city libraries were closed, for example, many of those staff members provided assistance in long-term care, to the extent of their abilities and training. 

Fowke added that could be possible again, since the city's indoor recreational facilities had to close on Jan. 5, due to provincial directives to help slow the spread of the Omicron variant.

In North Bay, the variant's impact on city services has been minimal, said Mayor Al McDonald. 

"We're very fortunate here that our numbers have been low, although they are increasing just like everyone else, but we've made it through pretty well," he said.

McDonald said there has been a slight increase in employee absences, but that it has been "manageable" so far.

He added the city has had contingency plans in place since the pandemic started, and is ready to redeploy staff to critical service areas if necessary.

"We haven't seen it to the same extent yet as southern Ontario has, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time."​​​​- Malcolm White, CAO, city of Sault Ste. Marie

While city services in North Bay have not seen a significant impact from the Omicron variant, more than eight per cent of the hospital's staff have had to self-isolate because they either have COVID-19, or were exposed to the virus.

Paul Heinrich, the CEO of the North Bay Regional Health Centre, said 180 employees were off work due to infection, or potential exposure, as of Thursday morning. 

In Sault Ste. Marie the city's chief administrative officer, Malcolm White, said the Delta variant had a bigger impact on services than Omicron has so far.

"We haven't seen it to the same extent yet as southern Ontario has, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time," he said.

White said if the Omicron variant were to lead to more illness among city staff, they would consider cutting back services deemed less critical.

He said the city also has a pool of recently retired employees it can call on to fill certain roles with minimal training.