Toronto Western Hospital reporting coronavirus outbreaks in 4 separate units

Toronto Western Hospital is reporting four separate COVID-19 outbreaks inside its doors, which has prompted the hospital to halt new admissions to the affected departments.

The outbreaks have been identified in two dedicated COVID-19 units and two internal medicine units.

The hospital would not confirm to CBC Toronto the number of patients and staff who have tested positive for the virus as a result of the outbreaks.

“We are caring for a large number of patients who are COVID positive and there is always a risk in a circumstance like that,” said Gillian Howard, a spokesperson for University Health Network, in an email.

A total of 79 staff have now tested positive for COVID-19 within the greater UHN, which also includes Toronto General and three other health care facilities, though 63 of those people have recovered.

Toronto Western declared its first outbreak on April 18, and the subsequent three on April 30.

The hospital, which also operates a COVID-19 assessment centre, has typically been caring for around 80 coronavirus patients daily for the past several weeks, Howard said.

It is now performing a deep cleaning of the affected units while they are closed to admissions.

“We are always reviewing practices, the science around COVID-19 which is developing, increasing our cleaning, doing additional testing and doing everything we can to care for patients and staff,” Howard said.

CBC