Workers in Hamilton hospital’s infant unit test positive for COVID-19
Three workers from a special care nursery at St. Joseph's hospital in Hamilton have tested positive for COVID-19, public health officials said Monday.
Parents and children involved in the area for babies needing extra support are being "closely monitored," Hamilton Public Health and St. Joseph's said in a joint statement.
The news came as the Star's tally of confirmed and presumed cases of coronavirus across the province has risen to 4,859 since the first case diagnosed on Jan. 25 in a traveller from China.
That's an increase of 135 or 2.9 per cent from Sunday night at 10:30 p.m., according to online postings and news releases from Ontario's 34 regional public health units compiled by the Star.
There were at least 149 deaths, an increase of four from late Sunday.
In Hamilton, officials said one of the nursery workers had no direct contact with patients or families and two had limited contact while wearing masks. None of the three were showing symptoms while caring for the children.
"Contact tracing is underway to ensure all babies, family members and staff/physicians who had direct contact with the positive health care workers are tested and appropriate measures will be taken to limit transmission," the statement said.
"No babies or parents in the unit are symptomatic."
The nursery is getting a deep cleaning and the infants have been moved to a separate space.
Ministry of Health official numbers released Monday morning, as reported by the public health units by 4 p.m. Sunday, include 589 Ontarians now in hospital for COVID-19, including 216 in intensive care and 160 of them critically ill on ventilators.
To date, the ministry said 1,624 people have recovered, which amounts to 37.4 per cent of the province's confirmed 4,347 cases.
Another 329 people were awaiting test results as the government's capacity to process them, now including hospital and private labs, has grown and eliminated a backlog that once approached 11,000 and left some people waiting as long as two weeks.
Almost 79,000 Ontarians have been tested for COVID-19.
Health experts warn that due to "unknown cases," the actual number of infected people in the province is likely hundreds or thousands higher. Many people with mild symptoms have not been tested, but simply asked to self-isolate at home for 14 days.
Testing has been limited to more serious cases presenting in hospitals, health care workers, seniors and First Nations.
Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robferguson1