COVID-19 infections are once again on the rise in Canada as healthcare workers at a hospital on Vancouver Island are sounding the alarm about the fast spread of the virus at the facility in the last few.
Moreover, despite the surge in cases, public health officials said that they would not declare COVID-19 an outbreak because of ‘negative connotations’.
Dr. Jeff Unger, an ER physician at Saanich Peninsula Hospital, said 18 patients tested positive for COVID-19 as of August 31, occupying nearly 30 percent of beds at the hospital. Most patients at this hospital, Unger said, are over the age of 75, making them particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.
“The vast majority of them were hospitalized for other reasons and then developed symptoms, and hence were tested in hospital,” Unger said. CBC News also spoke with two other health-care workers at the hospital who independently confirmed his account.
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According to the officials, it is very clear that the word ‘outbreak’ has very negative connotations to the public and would have media attention, possible patient shunting to [other local hospital] beds, and closing of all admissions to the affected units.
There is now a more informed approach that does not alarm the public and staff and should have the same outcomes as when outbreaks were previously called.
