Alberta’s oil sands are operating with critical personnel only as the highly contagious Omicron variant sweeps the country.
It is unclear how many tar sands workers are currently sick with COVID-19.
READ MORE: Report finds Alberta’s oil sands workers face significant stress and are reluctant to seek help
Oil Sands Community Alliance CEO Perry Berkenpas declined to give a figure, though he says the case count is no worse than in previous waves.
Alberta’s tar sands camps were the source of some of the country’s largest outbreaks in the early days of the pandemic and again in the spring of 2021, when thousands of workers fell ill.
READ MORE: Inside the oil sands site that has seen the COVID-19 outbreak in Canada’s largest workplace
Berkenpas says that oil sands companies are imposing work-from-home orders for all personnel who do not need to be on site. The facilities are operating with 40 to 65 percent fewer people than normal.
It says that companies can currently keep day-to-day operations running, but that production could be affected in the coming weeks and months, depending on the trajectory of the virus.
See link »
© 2022 The Canadian Press
Reference-globalnews.ca