The Moncton Hospital outbreak expands to fourth unit, 20 patients infected

Horizon Health Network says a COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at a fourth unit of the Moncton Hospital, and the number of patients now affected has climbed to 20.

The latest unit where an outbreak has been declared is the family medicine and palliative care unit, Unit 3600, said Christa Wheeler-Thorne, the hospital's executive director, during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

Of the patients affected, three are in intensive care, while fourstaff have tested positive in connection to the outbreaks.

The announcement follows the declaration of an outbreak in the stroke and family medicine unit, Unit 4600 on Monday, and then two more outbreaks, in the rehabilitation unit, Unit 4400, and the family practice and geriatric unit, Unit 5100 on Tuesday.

In response to the outbreaks, Wheeler-Thorne said Horizon Health Network has beefed up cleaning and contact tracing. In addition, patients are being screened for COVID-19 symptoms twice daily.

Patients in another family medicine unit, Unit 5200, will be tested as a precaution, she said.

Asked how the outbreak began, Wheeler-Thorne said the hospital had a patient who was symptomatic in Unit 4600 and later tested positive for COVID-19.

"And then we went right into lockdown and we followed our really good outbreak protocols and tested all of the patients on that unit and did some contact tracing to see if patients on that unit had been transferred to other units, which is how we found those three units," Wheeler-Thorne said.

As a result of the outbreaks, the hospital's designated support person program has been suspended for the affected units, except for patients requiring palliative care, Wheeler-Thorne said.

However, even for units not affected by outbreaks, designated support persons who are not involved in the patient's care plan are being asked to stay home, she said.

All regular visitations at the hospital have already been suspended.

Wheeler-Thorne said the Moncton Hospital will continue to offer surgeries, labour and birth services, ambulatory care, and professional services.

In response to media questions, Dr. Gordon Dow, infectious diseases specialist for Horizon, said the hospital could see new infections in the affected units over the next five days, which is the typical incubation period for the COVID-19 delta variant.

"There will be increasing numbers going on, but... the infection control works so incrediblywell that it will be very unusual to see new cases after about five days," Dow said.

Dow said most of the patients who've caught COVID-19 are fully vaccinated, and does not think the outbreaks will overwhelm the hospital.

He said COVID-19 cases in the Moncton Hospitalcan be thought of as the "canary in the coal mine" for the wider region, which wastaken off circuit-breaker measures aimed at curbing case numbers on Nov. 12.

"The whole idea here is to keep your hospital as functional as possible," he said.

"So just because we have four units on outbreak does not mean that the hospital completely shuts down. We still will do everything we can to carry out as much of our daily work as we canand the hospital is going to remain working in all those areas that Christa mentioned."