The Trudeau government is facing calls to quickly extend income support to cover all workers who may face the financial burden of self-isolating in order to combat the growing coronavirus outbreak.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Wednesday a $1-billion “comprehensive package” to address the economic and health impacts of COVID-19, including waiving the one-week wait period for people who are in quarantine or have been directed to self-isolate to claim employment insurance sickness benefits.

READ MORE: Trudeau government to spend $1 billion on response to COVID-19 outbreak

But experts and advocates are warning that the measures may not provide help to financially vulnerable workers, many of whom don’t qualify for EI benefits, which may leave a sizeable gap in the public health response to the outbreak if potentially ill workers don’t go into self-isolation because they can’t afford to. Public health officials have asked individuals who experience symptoms or have a high risk to exposure, such as coming into close contact with someone who is ill, to self-isolate.

“These workers are really in a Catch-22 situation,” said Sheila Block, an economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

“A lot of low-wage workers, or those who are precariously employed, the choice is really to protect the health of people you come in contact with at your work or to put food on the table for your kids or pay your rent.”

Block said the working poor, those in the “gig economy” and part-time workers are among those at risk. A past report from her think tank had concluded that 42 per cent of unemployed workers qualified for EI in 2017, with 28 per cent of workers earning less than $15 an hour eligible.

Even for those eligible for benefits, the amounts — equal to 55 per cent of one’s income — might be too little and too late for the poorest workers, she said.

On Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland faced strong calls from the NDP in Question Period to beef up support for workers amid the outbreak. Freeland responded by saying that Wednesday’s measures were “significant” and a “first step.”

READ MORE: First Ministers’ Meeting postponed, Trudeau and Grégoire Trudeau in self-isolation, Ontario schools shuttered for two weeks after March break

Trudeau, who announced today that he is working in self-isolation, told a news conference Wednesday that Ottawa is considering other efforts, including income support for those ineligible for EI benefits.

Asked about the impact isolation efforts could have on vulnerable workers, a spokesperson for Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough said the government is looking at the ways this “virus is impacting Canadians in all industries.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who also announced Thursday he would limit contact with the public after feeling unwell, was critical of the $1-billion package on Wednesday.

“What’s missing in that plan is any way to help workers who want to stay home from work because they’re not feeling well and don’t have access to EI,” he said.

Singh’s office said the NDP wants the governing Liberals to reduce the number of working hours needed to qualify for EI, as well as to provide additional paid sick days for all federally regulated workers and implement temporary regulations that would waive requirements for a doctor’s note from employers.

“The hours threshold prevents a significant proportion of low-income, non-standard workers from qualifying for EI benefits,” said spokesperson Melanie Richer, noting that special income relief for vulnerable workers has already been offered in countries like Japan.

Meanwhile, a coalition of health professionals and social advocates took to Queen’s Park Thursday to make similar calls for immediate government action to support vulnerable workers.

The group, led by the Decent Work and Health Network, is calling on Ottawa to expand EI access, create an emergency fund for those experiencing a loss or interruption of earnings for those ineligible for such benefits and to allow for at least seven paid sick days for federally-regulated workers. Currently, legislation permits for five sick days per calendar year.

“This really should have been in the package announced yesterday,” said Pam Frache, an activist for 15 and Fairness, who spoke at the Toronto news conference. She said if Trudeau implemented more paid sick days in federal workspaces, it could compel provinces to do the same.

The coalition wants the Ontario government to implement seven paid sick days, as well as restoring a provision that allows for up to 10 days of job-protected emergency leave.

READ MORE: Federal Liberals to add personal leave days as Ontario cuts them

Frache noted that the Ford government had repealed two paid personal emergency leave days enacted by the previous Liberal government, replacing them with three unpaid days for personal illness. The Progressive Conservative government also reimposed the right of employers to demand sick notes before workers can take emergency leave.

Publicly-funded schools in Ontario will be closed for three weeks starting Monday, meaning many working parents will likely have to stay at home for the period.

Block said the vast majority of Canadian workers are employed in provincially regulated sectors, putting the onus on more than just Ottawa to act. She noted that during the 2003 SARS outbreak, Ontario offered full compensation for lost wages due to quarantine, something that helped those who did not qualify for federal employment insurance or were self-employed.

She said the COVID-19 outbreak is the latest example of the need to offer better protections for low-income workers.

“It really brings it into sharp focus,” she said.

Meanwhile, Lindsay Tedds, a University of Calgary economist, wrote in a Twitter thread Wednesday that other measures to support workers could include expedited tax returns, GST/HST supplements and federal benefits.

“People, low and middle income people particularly who are not covered by employment benefits, need close to full replacement and need payment immediately,” she wrote.

“Can we do this? Yes, it simply takes more imagination than apparently the federal government currently has.”