Outbreak of COVID-19 declared at St. Joe’s in Hamilton after 6 workers test positive
Published November 17, 2020 at 7:40 am
An outbreak of COVID-19 has been declared in a unit of St. Joseph’s Hospital in downtown Hamilton after six health-care workers tested positive for the virus.
In a press release issued Monday evening (Nov. 16), St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (SJHH) said affected staff members in CTU Central, a general internal medicine unit, were now at home self-isolating.
Three health-care workers on the unit recently tested positive for the virus and three other staff members, who are believed to have contracted the virus in the community, also tested positive, which prompted SJHH, in consultation with Hamilton Public Health Services (PHS) to declare the outbreak in the unit.
“All health-care workers are now self-isolating at home and will not return to work until they have completed the self-isolation period and are asymptomatic,” the release said.
“Proper PPE was used during patient care, however out of an abundance of caution, all patients from this unit are being tested and screened regularly for symptoms.”
The unit is now closed to new admissions.
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Hamilton Public Health and St. Joe’s Infection Prevention & Control and Occupational Health & Safety teams are testing all staff on the unit. Contact tracing has been conducted and staff members considered at risk have been sent home to self-isolate pending test results.
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