Unvaccinated nurse tests positive for COVID-19 at Montreal's Lakeshore General Hospital

An unvaccinated nurse working in the emergency room at Montreal's Lakeshore General Hospital has tested positive for COVID-19, the local health agency has confirmed.

A patient who came into contact with the nurse has developed symptoms of COVID-19, Hlne Bergeron-Gamache, spokesperson for the CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'le-de-Montral, told CBC in a statement Thursday evening.

"We are currently investigating whether there is an epidemiological link between these two cases," she said.

The nurse complied with the required three weekly tests for the disease, saidBergeron-Gamache.

"She was removed from her unit as soon as the result of her test was known," she said.

The nurse wore her maskat all times, she said, and the agencycontinues to "strongly encourage" health-care workers to be vaccinated and to continue to respect infection prevention and control standards.

WATCH |Lakeshore Hospital nurse says it's time to get vaccinated:

Lakeshore Hospital nurse expresses frustration over unvaccinated colleagues

3 years ago

Duration 1:25

Nurse Nathan Friedland says it's frustrating that some of his colleagues at Montreal's Lakeshore General Hospital are refusing to get vaccinated.

The confirmed case at Lakeshorecomes as members of Quebec'sNational Assembly hold hearings on whether vaccination should be mandatory among public workers.

Premier Franois Legaulthas said that by Oct. 1, all who provide care to patients and are in direct contact with them for more than 15 minutes will need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Nathan Friedland says that mandate should have come a lot sooner.

He works nights as a nurse in the Lakeshore Hospital emergency room and he says he's tired of trying to convince colleagues to get theshot.

"There's quite a few nurses on staff who are not vaccinated," he said.

"We're frontline staff, we should have been vaccinated months ago. It's part of the job. If you're going to be a nurse, get the vaccine, that's it."

He said the majority of COVID-19 patients coming into the hospital are unvaccinated.

Quebec's largest nursing union says they are in communication with their stakeholders in light of this situation, but refused to comment further.