COVID-19 outbreak declared at Burlington’s Joseph Brant Hospital inpatient unit

Joseph Brant Hospital is reporting an outbreak of COVID-19 at one of its inpatient units.

The Burlington hospital says it’s working closely with Halton Public Health after three health-care workers and one patient on 7 South 100 (7S100) tested positive for the coronavirus.

All patients, staff and physicians who may have been exposed are being contacted and tested, and affected health-care workers are currently self-isolating and will not return to work until they are asymptomatic.

The hospital says the unit is undergoing enhanced daily deep cleaning and will be closed to visitors with “very limited exceptions”.

Any patients at the hospital who develop symptoms of COVID-19 — especially fever, cough or shortness of breath — will be immediately tested.

There are currently 560 active cases of COVID-19 in Halton Region, with a total of 3,092 since the beginning of the pandemic.

There have been 47 deaths in the region from the illness.