Davies 5, a patient care unit at Kingston General Hospital (KHSC) is under quarantine after a staff member tested positive for coronavirus.
The hospital worker is now in isolation at home, KHSC wrote in a media release.
The worker showed symptoms on Thursday and on Friday the COVID-19 test came back positive.
Elizabeth Bardon, a KHSC Vice-President, told Global Kingston Davies 5 will remain under quarantine for 14 days starting June 19 when the positive test results were received.
“We will not be transferring patients off that unit to other places or into that unit so it’s closed for admissions and there is no family presence permitted on that unit.”
In the media release, Dr. David Pichora, KHSC’s president and CEO, says the quarantine is a precautionary step.
“The quarantine was implemented out of an abundance of caution. Since we now use universal masking on all patient units, we expected the risk of transmission to others would be low.”
According to the release, all patients on the unit have been tested for COVID-19 — the tests have come back negative thus far.
Staff are continuing to monitor all patients for symptoms of COVID-19 and Bardon says they have been placed on contact/droplet precautions.
“That just escalates or elevates the personal protective equipment that a staff member or any staff members interacting with those patients would use. ”
KHSC’s infection control and occupational health teams are now engaged in contact-tracing for patients and staff who came in contact with the health-care worker.
Prior to this weekend, the last COVID-19 case in Kingston, Ont., was detected on May 30. It was the region’s 63rd positive test according to KFL&A Public Health’s web site. That number is now up to 64.
Patient care services continue as usual in all other areas of the hospital.
Kingston Health Sciences Centre has also notified KFL&A Public Health of the positive test.
The Public Health unit will also be engaging in contact tracing in the broader community outside of Kingston General Hospital.