Guelph General Hospital says a COVID-19 outbreak has been declared in one of its units after three patients tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
The outbreak in the 4 East Unit was declared on Tuesday following consultation with Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health.
“For those patients who tested positive, we wish them a speedy recovery,” said hospital president and CEO, Marianne Walker.
“Our ongoing priority is to ensure the safety of patients and staff who have worked diligently to limit the spread of COVID-19 during this challenging time of significant community spread.”
The hospital said no staff associated with the outbreak area have tested positive.
A hospital spokesperson Perry Hagerman said there are currently eight patients with COVID-19 being treated in the hospital.
“Some are in our ICU but I can’t get more specific without breach privacy,” he said in an email. “Our 10-bed ICU is currently full. Not all are COVID-19 patients.”
A number of measures have been put into place, including closing the unit to new admissions except for COVID-19 patients.
All visits to the unit are temporarily suspended with the exception of visits with palliative patients and for those visits deemed essential by the unit care team.
Droplet precautions are in effect and enhanced cleaning continues, the hospital said.
Its also asking residents to not call the hospital but patient relations instead, which can address any concerns and be reached at 519-837-6449 ext. 2615.
This is the hospital’s second outbreak of COVID-19 after an outbreak ended on April 9.
Guelph has been hit hard by the second wave of the pandemic this month, having added 262 new cases since Dec. 1, including one fatal case.
“We are greatly concerned about the surge of COVID-19 in our community and ask everyone do their part to reduce community spread especially during the holiday season,” Walker said.