Coronavirus: COVID-19 outbreak declared at Haldimand War Memorial hospital

The Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit (HNHU) has declared a COVID-19 outbreak at Haldimand War Memorial Hospital in Dunnville after two employees tested positive for the coronavirus.

The staff members in question are now self-isolating at their homes. No patients or residents at the facility have been impacted, the hospital said in a statement on Monday.

“As we’ve done since the beginning of the pandemic, we continue to take all the necessary measures to protect our hospital patients, Edgewater residents, employees, physicians and members of the community from the spread of this highly contagious virus,” interim president and CEO Sharon Moore said in a release.

Despite the outbreak, the hospital is continuing with normal operations amid the pandemic, which includes the screening of staff and physicians daily.

Visitation to the facility continues to be restricted due to COVID-19 precautions. Aside from reduced hours, the hospital is asking patients to come alone for emergency care and clinical appointments.

There are some exceptions that need to be cleared with hospital staff in advance.

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The HNHU is now dealing with six institutional outbreaks involving 15 total coronavirus cases among 12 staff and just a single case among residents.

The other outbreaks are at the Cedarwood Village LTHC in Simcoe, Delhi long-term care home, Edgewater Gardens LTCH in Dunnville, the nursing home in Norfolk General, and Norview Lodge.

Outbreaks at the Dover Cliffs LTCH and Grandview Lodge retirement home in Dunnville were declared over on the weekend.

The Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit reported three new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.

The region’s active cases dropped slightly to 50 on Tuesday from the 57 reported on Monday. There have been 1,372 total COVID-19 cases since last March.

There were no new deaths in the counties as of Tuesday. The region has had 38 virus-related deaths since the pandemic began.