A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared on the Inpatient Surgery Unit at the Stratford General Hospital.
Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance officials say the outbreak was declared after two patients tested positive.
The action is taken when there are two COVID-19 cases confirmed within a 14-day period, where both cases could reasonably have been acquired in the hospital.
The unit is now closed to admissions until further notice.
It should be noted that the outbreak has affected on the Inpatient Surgery Unit, not the Operating Rooms or the Surgical Ambulatory Care Clinic, and the hospital is still open for all other scheduled clinics, procedures and emergency visits
Emergency/urgent surgeries at the hospital continue and those patients will be admitted to another unit for their recovery.
Huron Perth Public Health has been notified and patients, family/caregivers and team members affected by the outbreak are in the process of being notified with contact tracing and testing for individuals on the unit is also taking place.
Family and Caregiver Presence on the unit has been restricted with the only exception being for palliative patients.
Care teams will regularly update families/caregivers and make them aware of opportunities for virtual connections.
“Our top priority is to the safety of our patients and team members,” says Andrew Williams, President and CEO. “We thank those adhering to our screening process, masking requirements and family and caregiver presence guidelines to help us prevent further spread of the virus within our hospital.”
HPHA officials say they will update the community as more or changing information occurs.
