COVID-19 outbreak at St. Joseph's Charlton Campus after 6 staff test positive

A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton's Charlton Campus.

The hospital network sent out a release Monday evening about six healthcare workers from CTU-Central, the fourth floor of the Bishop Dowling Building.

Three of them got the virus from the community.

"All healthcare workers are now self-isolating at home and will not return to work until they have completed the self-isolation period and are asymptomatic," reads a media release from St. Joe's.

St. Joe's states its teams and public health are testing all staff on the unit. It also states contact tracing has started.

The floor is currently closed for admissions.

"Proper [personal protective equipment] was used during patient care, however out of an abundance of caution, all patients from this unit are being tested and screened regularly for symptoms. In addition to the thorough daily cleaning, a deep cleaning has also been done on the unit," reads the statement.

CTU-Central is part of St. Joe's General Internal Medicine unit which focuses on acute medical care and geriatric assessment.

"The patient population served by the general internal medicine program team includes patients with undifferentiated medical illnesses, multiple co-morbidities requiring expertise outside the scope of a single primary care physician, specialist or sub-specialist," reads the website.

"Special needs of the frail elderly are addressed as well as needs for medical consultation/management during a surgical admission, acute medical illness that warrant admission, investigation and urgent intervention, palliation and those with complex individualized discharge planning requirements."

This is Hamilton's 19th outbreak.