Cancer patient 'terrified' after COVID-19 exposure at Ottawa Hospital

An Ottawa man with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer sayshe's now in isolation after finding out another patient in his shared hospital room tested positive for COVID-19.

Adrian Lloyd, 52, said he was "terrified" when he was toldThursday that someone in hisroom at The Ottawa Hospital's General campushad contracted the illness.

I haven't lived almost six yearsfighting pancreatic canceronly to die of a virus.- Adrian Lloyd

Lloyd saidhe's concerned patients with vulnerable immune systems are being put at unnecessary risk when they're kept in shared rooms.

He said he had even expressed concern to his care team that a fellow patient was exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, including acough that sounded like a "freight train," butwas told the cough was related to the patient's cancer. Then the story changed.

"They said one of the two people who had been next to me over my stay ... had just tested positive for COVID that morning,so then I was exposed, and tested, and immediately moved to a single room," he said.

Lloyd said his test came back negative, but he's still being kept in quarantine for another 10 days.

Full hospitals, shared rooms

He was admitted to hospital on Nov. 20 to manage symptomsrelated to his cancer. He said he spent time in both a twinand quad room, and said at one point one of his roommateswas allowed to have family visit.

Lloyd said he was notified about the positive case on Nov. 26, the same day Ottawa Public Health (OPH) declared an outbreak on his ward at the General campus. According to the OPHwebsite, there have been five cases and one death due to COVID-19 on the ward.

It's not surprising that cancer patients are sharing rooms, even during a pandemic, according to Natalie Mehra,executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition.

"Hospitals are full," said Mehra. "[The Ottawa Hospital] is a very busy hospital. There's not enough capacity there, and that's been a situation for years and years. So people are in shared rooms."

According to Mehra, most hospitals are testing patients on admission to try and prevent outbreaks, but COVID-19 has proved difficult to control in health-care institutions.

"This is a difficult, terrible thing about this virus ... it's transmitted by asymptomatic people, and that is a huge issue in the transmission of this disease," she said.

Still, Mehra said she understands why Lloyd is upset.

"What this patient went through sounds like the same kind of nightmare that we're hearing in long-term care homes, where ... they'rebeside someone who's symptomatic, and it takes days for the person to be tested," she said.

'Beat the odds'

Lloyd said the nurses and orderlies taking care of him have been exceptional, but he still doesn't think he should have been put in thissituation.

He said he's worked hard to "beat the odds" duringhis six-year battle with pancreatic cancer, after originally being told he likely had just two years to live.

"I haven't lived almost six yearsfighting pancreatic canceronly to die of a virus," said Lloyd. "Anyone with seriously compromised immune systems should not be put in a situation like this. I mean,mistakes happen,but this was a highly avoidable mistake."

The Ottawa Hospital said in an emailed statementMonday afternoon that it doesn't comment on specificcases. It said an outbreak was declared at the General campus, but all appropriate prevention and control protocols are in place.

"All patients on the unit have been screened, as have any high-risk contacts," the statement reads. Patients with COVID-19 are immediately placed in their "COVID-19 cohort unit," and high-risk contacts are put in isolation, it said.