COVID cases tripled among health-care workers

COVID-19 infections in Canadian health-care workers have tripled since the summer, according to new data released Thursday from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).

But while cases among health-care workers continue to rise, the spike is happening more slowly than infections among the general population, the CIHI says.

Data shows 44,078 COVID cases reported among Canada's health-care workers from July 23, 2020 to Jan. 15, 2021, bringing the total number to 65,920 since the pandemic began.

The rise of cases throughout the Canadian population has been more rapid, however.

COVID among heath-care workers made up 9.5 per cent of all total Canadian cases from August 2020 to January 2021, down from 19.4 per cent from the start of the pandemic to July 2020.

The CIHI says almost all provinces saw an increase in COVID-19 infections in health-care workers with Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C., experiencing larger percentage increases compared with the other provinces and territories.