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Toyota workers at Ontario plants confused by 'work self-isolation' measures

Employees in Woodstock and Cambridge who interacted with COVID-19-positive contractor told they are at low risk of exposure

Coleman Molnar
Apr 06, 2021  •  April 7, 2021  •  2 minute read  •  Join the conversation
Corolla assembly at Toyota's plant in Cambridge, Ontario
Corolla assembly at Toyota's plant in Cambridge, Ontario Photo by Toyota Canada

An unknown number of employees working at automotive plants in Cambridge and Woodstock, Ontario received some confusing instructions from their employers at Toyota recently. 

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The group, which CTV reports was flagged as having possibly come into contact with a positive COVID-19 case, was sent letters at once asking them to self-isolate while also giving them permission to return to work.

The letters, given the stamp of approval by Southwestern Public Health, informed employees of their mandatory isolation until April 8 as a result of being high-risk close contacts to the positive case. It also gave them instructions for how to safely isolate while at work. 

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Toyota Canada told Driving that the person that tested positive for COVID-19 at its plant was actually a third-party contractor the automaker had hired to conduct an “on-site optional rapid testing pilot program for [its] employees as an additional layer of screening” in the wake of the spread of new variants of concern (VoC).

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The public health authorities confirmed the contractor did not have one of the VoC strains, was wearing full PPE while on-site, and had only very brief contact with each affected employee, paradoxically making risk of transmission in fact very low, Toyota relayed. This, combined with the fact all of those employees have since tested negative, is what led officials to okay a “work self-isolation” program, the automaker explained. The on-site rapid testing is ongoing, but now self-administered.

Apparently the work self-isolation regime includes using PPE, getting screened and tested more frequently, taking care on your way to and from work, and, of course, physical distancing. 

“Our team is working very closely with Toyota to ensure any of the identified contacts attending work are doing so safely using appropriate IPAC measures,” Southwestern Public Health said in a statement. “Additional health and safety oversight is being provided by the health and safety team onsite.”

It’s nevertheless left some of the employees who received the letter perplexed, one Toyota team leader told CTV News, noting “Team members, in my eyes anyway, are fairly confused with the directive from public health.”

The news also has infectious disease experts like Gerald Evans concerned.  “I find it very surprising why they would do that,” he said. “It has to be a complete bubble where the person doesn’t really interact with anyone… In my opinion, a worker at an automotive plant would not and should not be deemed essential. Bottom line: it does not make sense.”

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