Mayor of Campbellton calls for inquiry into COVID-19 outbreak

The mayor of Campbellton says there should be a public inquiry into the COVID-19 outbreak in the Restigouche region.

"I have big questions about the health authority and what kind of information they're giving to the government," said Stephanie Anglehart-Paulin.

People want to know how COVID got into the local hospital, she said, and why it was the only hospital in Canada to be temporarily closed because of COVID.

"I don't like being the first for all these things," Anglehart-Paulin said, adding that people in the region have lost faith in the Vitalité Health Network and its CEO, Gilles Langeigne.

She called on Dr. France Desrosiers, Vitalité vice-president medical services, to visit.

"I understand that [Lanteigne] has a team and a board of directors and probably a chief doctor that gives him his recommendations," the mayor said. "Well, I think it's time that Dr. Desrosiers comes up here and explains to all the residents of Campbellton and the rest of this region why those decisions were made." 

Last week, some staff members and a doctor, Vona MacMillan, expressed concerns to CBC News about safety and whether the protocols the hospital follows for the use of personal protective equipment, which come from Public Health,  were adequate.  

Vitalité later issued statement saying MacMillan had recanted and apologized for speaking.

But Anglehart-Paulin said she's received private messages from local doctors asking for a public inquiry.

"Staff has been muzzled," she said. "Phones aren't allowed in the hospital anymore. People are scared, so they're telling us stuff."

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs said Friday morning he planned to reach out to the mayor of Campbellton to find out more about "the foundation" of her concerns. 

"I feel it's something we can certainly address," said Higgs.

But he suggested an inquiry is probably not necessary.

"Every time we run into a problem we shouldn't need a public inquiry to figure it out," he said in an interview on Information Morning. "We should be able to sit down and go through it with the respective professionals and say, 'What have we learned here?'"

The outbreak in Campbellton has been blamed on a doctor who travelled to Quebec and did not self-isolate on his return, although he disagrees he brought COVID-19 into the region, known as Zone 5.

Two people, both residents of a long-term care home in Atholville, have died during the outbreak, which began May 21. Health-care workers at the home and at the Campellton hospital have been among those testing positive for COVID-19.

Higgs said Vitalité has been very thorough and identified areas for additional training, equipment and other requirements in hospitals. And those lessons are now being shared across both Vitalité and the Horizon Health Network.

"They've been very open," he said, "particularly in terms of assessing the concern around health-care workers and how were they exposed in the COVID unit … with all of the protective gear that was available."