Interior Heath wants the public to know that the outbreak at Kelowna General Hospital is being considered ‘stable’ and that the hospital is safe for people to use its services.
“The hospital is safe to go to, people are safe for their appointments and emergencies,” said Dr. Silvina Mema, an Interior Health medical officer.
There have been no additional positive cases to add to the four patients and one staff member, who had tested positive as of Monday.
“We have implemented protocols in place to prevent any further spread to other units and within the unit,” said Mema.
“We have moved positive patients to a different unit, so we can look after them with staff who are immunized.”
The four positive patients are now in the COVID-19 treatment unit.
The outbreak is currently under investigation to see how COVID-19 entered the unit.
“We are investigating the source of COVID-19 exposures in the unit, all the measures are in place to prevent transmission, we have confidence in the staff use of PPE and we are not aware of any breaches,” Mema told Global News on Tuesday.
In the declared outbreak unit, 4B, there are still 27 patients. Interior Health says they have all been tested with negative results.
According to Interior Health, people visiting the hospital are not required to self-isolate and do not need to get tested for COVID-19.