Three healthcare workers at Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) have tested positive for COVID-19, the hospital has announced.

During a media briefing held Thursday afternoon (April 9), Dr. Lynn Mikula, the hospital’s vice-president, chief medical executive, and chief of staff, said an inpatient unit was placed on outbreak precaution due to hospital-acquired transmission of COVID-19, due to staff-to-staff transmission.

All three of the workers who have tested positive have mild symptoms and are self-isolating at home.

“Evidence suggests that the index case was related to community transmission of COVID-19,” Dr. Mikula said. An “index case” is the first case in group of related cases.

She said the hospital has no information on where the index case worker was infected by the virus, but it could have been any time during their day-to-day routine.

“Any close contacts of these three individuals have been identified and have been instructed to take appropriate precautions. All patients on the unit are being closely monitored for symptoms.”

Dr. Mikula said all staff continue to adhere closely to appropriate guidelines for the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).

“We do not currently have evidence of staff-to-patient transmission, nor of patient-to-staff transmission,” Dr. Mikula said.

Dr. Mikula said PRHC is continuing to actively screen all staff for symptoms of COVID-19 daily as they come into work.

“I want to emphasize that all PRHC staff take infection control precautions very seriously,” Dr. Mikula added. The outbreak was detected because of the hospital’s intense and active system for testing healthcare workers, she said, with a low threshold for testing healthcare workers.

“PRHC remains a safe place to come for care, and I want to express my thanks for the hard work of all our front-line healthcare workers through this pandemic,” she said.

All three staff members who tested positive work in a patient-care role in the same inpatient unit. Dr. Makula stressed all three workers were wearing appropriate PPE during all patient-care interactions, and there is no evidence the virus was transmitted to any patient.

The entire unit has been placed on outbreak precaution, which includes closing the unit to new admissions as much as possible and implementing enhanced screening and surveillance for everyone on that unit, including anyone who had close contact with the affected workers.

While no other workers have exhibited any symptoms, 27 staff members who work on that unit have been tested “out of an abundance of caution”, Dr. Makula said.

Dr. Makula said that staff are closely screened for symptoms when they arrive at work and, if they show any symptoms, they are immediately sent home. In this case, one worker developed very mild symptoms while at work and went home. The other two staff developed symptoms later while at home and did not come into work.

Dr. Makula said there was a period of less than 48 hours between identifying the index case and other two cases.

Currently, three positive COVID-19 patients (not the healthcare workers) are being treated at PRHC in the intensive care unit while another 24 patients are awaiting the results of testing.