Georgian Bay General Hospital has confirmed a total of 15 COVID-19 cases — 13 involving staff and two involving patients — as the outbreak has expanded to include all inpatient units.
On Friday, a coronavirus outbreak was declared in one unit of the hospital — 2 North. It’s since expanded to include the intensive care unit, obstetrics, 2 East and 1 North units.
Initially, one patient and one staff member tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Thursday.
Following testing that took place over the weekend, the hospital has confirmed 12 more staff and credentialed workers — for example, doctors — have tested positive outside the facility’s 2 North inpatient unit.
“I want to assure our staff and our community we are doing everything we can in the best interests of our patients and our team members,” Gail Hunt, Georgian Bay General Hospital’s (GBGH) president and CEO, said in a statement.
“Over the weekend, our team has been working tirelessly to test, conduct contact tracing and implement the necessary measures to manage this outbreak.”
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Over the weekend, the hospital tested all patients in the 2 North and 1 North units for COVID-19. On Monday, all patients in the 2 East and intensive care units were swabbed.
Test results have returned negative for all patients in the 2 North unit. The hospital is still awaiting the novel coronavirus test results for patients in 1 North, 2 East and the ICU.
Contact tracing is also currently underway.
“GBGH continues to work closely with public health to manage and control this outbreak which includes thorough contact tracing and enhanced infection prevention and control,” Dr. Dan Lee, GBGH’s COVID medical lead and emergency medicine chief, said in a statement.
“The majority of transmission appears to be from staff to staff based on our preliminary findings.”
The hospital tested 167 staff over the weekend and is continuing testing Tuesday. The hospital is also testing all new patient admissions to detect infections that may have been picked up in the community.
Effective Tuesday, non-urgent and elective surgical and ambulatory care procedures scheduled at GBGH are postponed. Urgent and emergent surgeries and endoscopies, as well as diagnostic imaging, will continue.
Visiting the hospital is still restricted, except for people with special circumstances on a case-by-case basis — for example, those visiting palliative patients or those in the birthing unit.
Currently, there are 44 active hospital COVID-19 outbreaks across Ontario.
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