Trillium Health Partners, which has two hospitals in Mississauga and one in Etobicoke, has reported 36 COVID-19 cases among its staff over the last 10 days, including some associated with outbreaks leading to the closure of several units.
Credit Valley Hospital, Mississauga Hospital and Queensway Health Centre are all part of Trillium Health Partners and have outbreaks reported across all three sites.
The hospital network said transmission of the virus has occurred through multiple sources, the “biggest proportion of which has been through the community,” noting that Peel Region continues to see increasing coronavirus case numbers.
“It is important to note that these 36 cases are not all the result of a hospital unit outbreak,” Trillium Health Partners said in a statement on Thursday.
“Like many hospitals across the province, particularly those in hotspot areas, THP is currently experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks on a few units,” the hospital network said.
The outbreaks include the Credit Valley Hospital’s emergency department and medicine unit, as well as the Mississauga Hospital’s cardiac surgical intensive care unit and another unit.
Two floors at Queensway Health Care in Etobicoke also have outbreaks.
The hospital network said the emergency department at Credit Valley — where four health-care workers tested positive — remains open and safe. However, all the other units at the three hospitals with reported outbreaks are closed.
Trillium Health Partners indicated on its website that 10 patients have caught COVID-19 across all three hospitals — four patients at Credit Valley Hospital, two patients at Mississauga Hospital and four patients at Queensway Health Centre.
“THP staff are screened daily before entering the hospital,” the hospital network said. “If a staff member is showing one or more COVID-19 symptoms or has had close contact with a positive case, they do not report to work. For this reason, many of our health care workers who are currently off for COVID-19 have not been exposed to the hospital or patients while symptomatic or asymptomatic and awaiting testing.”
Global News obtained an alert sent out to other area hospitals late last week indicating that Mississauga Hospital couldn’t accept patients that were dire cases. Ambulances that would normally go there would be directed to other hospitals.
In an update on Wednesday, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said the situation at hospitals “is not getting any better.”
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“This is particularly concerning as we know our hospitals are our last line of defence in protection against this virus,” Crombie said.
Crombie said Trillium Health Partners is currently well above capacity and is dealing with 88 COVID-19 patients with 20 patients in its intensive care unit.
“Four units are in outbreak at THP and they’ve begun transferring patients to other hospitals and are considering cancelling some elective surgeries,” Crombie said.
“I’ve been told the next three to six weeks will be extremely challenging for our hospitals as they continue to deal with the surge of COVID-19 patients.”
— With files from Mark Carcasole and The Canadian Press
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