COVID-19 Outbreak Declared: Inpatient Surgery Unit, Stratford General Hospital
January 07, 2022
The Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance (HPHA) has declared an outbreak of COVID-19 on the Inpatient Surgery Unit at its Stratford General Hospital site after two patients tested positive.
Outbreak status refers to two COVID-19 cases 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 this outbreak has affected our Inpatient Surgery Unit, not our Operating Rooms or our Surgical Ambulatory Care Clinic. Emergency/urgent surgeries at the hospital will 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. Necessary contact tracing and testing for individuals on the unit is also taking place.
Family and Caregiver Presence on the Unit has been restricted. The only exception is 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.”
Please note it is safe to receive care at Stratford General Hospital and the hospital remains open for all other scheduled clinics, procedures and emergency visits. HPHA will continue to update the community, as more or changing information occurs.