St. Mary's General Hospital declares COVID-19 outbreak in chest unit

St. Mary's General Hospital and Waterloo Region Public Health have declared a COVID-19 outbreak at the hospital on its sixth floor chest unit.

As of Sunday, five patients and two staff have tested positive for the virus.

The hospital said it's currently contact tracing and testing additional patients and staff wherenecessary.

The unit is now closed to new admissions.Care partner visits are temporarily suspended with the exception of visits with palliative patients and to those deemed essential by the unit.The hospital is now organizing virtual visits for patients and families.

"Our ongoing priority is to ensure the safety of patients and staff and we will continue all measures to limit further impact of this outbreak and virus on them," said hospital president Lee Fairclough in a news release.

"We are also greatly concerned about the surge of COVID-19 in our community including in workplaces, schools and other settings, as well as the current outbreaks at all three hospitals in Waterloo Region, and the increasing numbers of hospital staff contracting COVID-19 from community exposure. All of this has potential to impact bed capacity within the hospitals and our ability to maintain services, such as scheduled surgery and procedures,"Faircloughsaid.

The hospital said it will continue to update the public when new information is available.