Outbreaks declared at two Hamilton hospitals

A pair of Hamilton hospitals were placed under outbreak protocol Saturday as the city recorded 100 or more new cases of COVID-19 for the eleventh straight day.

Two patients in the surgical oncology unit at Juravinski Hospital and three patients and one staff member in the palliative care unit at St. Peter's Hospital have tested positive for novel coronavirus.

Each outbreak was declared Friday and marks the fifth ongoing outbreak at local hospitals.

Juravinski Hospital's acute medicine unit has been under outbreak protocol since April 19 after five patients tested positive.

Meanwhile, at a cardiology and vascular surgery unit at Hamilton General Hospital, 20 people have been infected and one person has died in an outbreak declared April 14.

The Barton Street East hospital also has an outbreak in a separate cardiac surgery unit, where six patients have tested positive since April 18.

The two other new outbreaks reported Saturday include the Woodward Wastewater Treatment Plant with three variant-linked cases and the Good Shepherd Women's shelter at the Admiral Inn with two cases.

Of the city's 36 active outbreaks, 30 have screened positive for a variant of concern.

Meanwhile, cases in Hamilton continue to surge, with 131 new infections reported Saturday.

Active cases crept up to 1,773, a slight increase over 1,705 recorded Friday.

A total of 17,278 people in Hamilton have tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.

More than 85 per cent of cases - 14,841 - have recovered.

Sebastian Bron is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sbron@thespec.com