Health-care unions say they are increasingly concerned about the Quebec government's decision to ask certain workers to remain on the job despite testing positive for COVID-19 or coming in contact with someone who is sick.

The health minister confirmed the directive at a news conference Tuesday as he said thousands of workers have been sidelined due to the virus.

As of Tuesday, about 7,000 health-care workers were absent from work, and that number is expected to grow by another 3,000 “in the next few days,” according to Health Minister Christian Dubé.

On a case-by-case basis, some workers who do not have serious symptoms will be allowed to come to work after a “reduced” isolation period, he said.

"The network is not prepared to deal with the risks of the government's decision to bring asymptomatic infected staff back to work. Currently, there is not even the ability to test staff in their workplaces,” said Réjean Leclerc, president of the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSS-CSN), which represents 120,000 public and private sector health-care workers in Quebec.

“The poor management of the pandemic is once again putting network staff at risk and therefore patients at risk. What is needed is to put everything in place to properly protect those who care for the population.”

The union is calling for better testing for workers and improved ventilation in healthcare settings, among other demands, to protect the “fragile” healthcare network in the province.

Recently, Montreal’s Lakeshore Hospital reported an outbreak of COVID-19 for the second time in four days. As of Tuesday, 200 of the West Island health network's 14,000 workers were removed from the workplace after testing positive for the coronavirus or “to respect precautionary isolation” measures.

The head of the Fédération de la santé du Québec (FSQ-CSQ) also decried the government’s decision to let infected workers stay on the job.

“We are concerned about this measure because we must remember that during the first wave of the pandemic, health care workers were an important factor in the transmission of the virus. In other words, we can't afford to lose anyone in the system,” said FSQ-CSQ President Isabelle Dumaine.

The union, which represents 5,000 nurses, respiratory therapists and nursing assistants, said the province’s decision is too risky and called on the health minister to ensure staff have proper access to personal protective equipment. 

That includes N-95 masks, which experts have said are better at preventing transmission of the highly contagious Omicron variant that is sweeping across Canada.

A third group, the Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel in Health and Social Services (APTS), said that rather than shoring up staff numbers, the new rules will encourage people to quit or stay home.

"For the union, this announcement is in contradiction with all the messages about the importance of isolating oneself that the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, has insisted since the start of the pandemic," the APTS wrote in a news release.

"In addition, this risks creating an atmosphere of unhealthy suspicion between employees, leading to a wave of departures among staff members who do not want to infect their colleagues or, worse, one of their relatives."

APTS president Robert Comeau also echoed the other unions in saying that the idea "endangers" vulnerable patients, since "the vast majority of our members are in direct contact with the population and, in many cases, cannot maintain the distance necessary to avoid contamination of users."

The province’s plan has been in the works for more than a week, and the rules behind it were laid out months ago in a provincial directive written during the spring wave.

The directive says that workers who have been exposed to the virus, but haven't themselves tested positive, will be the first to be recalled from their isolation in case of a critical staff shortage.

But as a "last resort," workers who are themselves positive or just got over a case of COVID-19 and are still meant to be in isolation may also be recalled to work, as long as they are assigned to "hot zones," working with COVID-19 patients.

On Tuesday, the province reported a record-breaking 12,833 new COVID-19 infections and another significant increase of 88 hospitalizations.

Officials have said most of the new hospitalizations are coming from unvaccinated or partially vaccinated patients who, at least until now, appear to be mostly infected with the Delta variant. 

--With files from CTV's Selena Ross