More patients, staff at St. Clare's test positive for COVID-19

Up to nine more patients and staffona unit ofSt. Clare's Mercy Hospital in St John's have tested positive for COVID-19, with Eastern Health now moving to test all patients and staff within the hospital in what it calls a "localized" outbreak of the virus.

Eastern Health CEO David Diamond declined to put an exact number of the total cases Friday afternoon, saying only it was less than 10.All of the cases are on Unit 6 East.

"It continues to be a very small number," he said, and because of that amount, he said, privacy concerns come into play, although he could not provide specific legislation that would prevent him from providing a firm number.

Diamond, along with two other health officials, spoke at a virtual press conferencecalled abruptly Friday after the new cases were found four other cases involving the unit have beenidentified since Feb. 8.

"We would not see this as a majoroutbreak," he said.

The latest cases were found beginning Thursday afternoon, when all patients on Unit 6 East were retested for the virus. Unit staff were also retested, even if they had previously been negative,a process that began Thursday and continued Friday. Both those testing regimes turned up positive cases.

The positive patients on Unit 6 have been transferred to the COVID-19 unit at the Health Sciences Centre. All remaining patientson the unit about five in all will continue to be retested for the virus, Diamond said, until no more positive cases are found, and are self-isolating in single rooms.

Hospitalwide testing

In order to be "100 per cent sure" there were no other cases within the hospital, Diamond said, all employees and in-patients at the hospital are being tested, with more teams being sent to the Reid Centre test site in Mount Pearl to deal with the number of people requiring a test.

"Those testing teams are being deployed as we speak," said Dr. Natalie Bridger, Eastern Health's clinical chief of infection prevention and control.

Rapid tests are being used in the sweep of St. Clare's, and Diamond said testresults forthe rest of hospital staff and patients would be coming back as early as Friday afternoon.

Anyone discharged from the hospital since Feb. 19 will also be contacted by public health if testing is required.

While awaiting test results, Bridger said St. Clare's staff other than those on 6 East are expected to remain working, since turnaround times are short, and expected back on Friday.

"We're doing a bit of a case-finding expedition, and none of the staff that are being tested today, that we know of, are close contactsof any of the cases on 6 East," she said.

Anyone who has been deemed a close contact of the confirmed cases must self-isolate, she said.

At this point, Eastern Health doesn't anticipate any disruption to hospital appointment and procedures outside the unit, above the Alert Level 5 restrictions continuing on the Avalon Peninsula for the next two weeks.

"We're not concerned for patients that are coming for outpatient appointments, or for our visitors that might be coming into the hospital for other reasons," said Judy O'Keefe, the health authority's vice-president of clinical services.

Unclear links in outbreak

The hospital's first case connected to the recent outbreak was discovered Feb.8, when a staff member tested positive. That staff person was working while awaiting test results, followingthe health directives at the time, rules that have since been tweaked to require anyone who has been testing to be self-isolating before receiving their results.

Since that case, one more staff member and two patients have tested positive.

All of the cases are connected to Unit 6 East, but it's unclear how the infections have occurred and what linksthere are, if any, between them

"At this moment we can't pinpoint any specific cause," said Bridger.

Bridger pointed to the numerous challenges the virus poses, from its long incubation period to large numbers of asymptomatic people, complicating the investigation and trying to figure out how it entered the hospital in the first place.

Diamond said there are likely links, given the close proximity and time frame.

"The question is, who might be infecting who?And how much of this may have been brought into the unit from outside?" he said.

Since the first case was discovered, all staff on the unit having close contactwith patients on 6 East have been using full personal protective equipment, Bridger said, with face mask and shield, gown and gloves.

Eastern Health remained mum for days

Friday's press conference comes after the health authority declined numerous interview requests to speak about the hospital's COVID-19 situation earlier this week after three cases were reported but instead issued a statement and refused to answer specifics, citing privacy concerns.

Diamond said those concerns involve staff and patients, and so "we're trying to balance the needs of many folks here, including the need to be as transparent as we possible can be with the public."

Health Minister John Haggie said Wednesday there had been "no outbreak" at St. Clare's and that the situation has been "contained."On Friday, he said that situation has now changed, and the information hehad then when he made those comments had also changed.

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