Six patients have been confirmed with COVID-19 and an outbreak has been declared at Southlake Regional Health Centre.
One health-care worker also tested positive, as of Dec. 21, in the second outbreak at the Newmarket hospital since the pandemic began.
According to Southlake spokesperson Matt Haggerty, the outbreak occurred in the hospital's assessment and consultation unit but has been contained there and has not spread to other parts of the hospital. It's not clear how the outbreak began.
"It is hard to pinpoint the origin given the high number of cases in the community," he said.
Three other staff members have been sent home to self-isolate in case they may have been infected.
All patients inside the unit are being asked to wear masks when other people are present, cleaning and disinfection inside the unit have been increased, and there are new limits on who can enter the unit. For instance, nurses will be delivering food to patients instead of dietary staff.
Southlake's infection control team will be coordinating with York Region Public Health whenever someone is discharged from the affected unit.
According to the hospital's website, this week there are 18 COVID-19 patients, five of whom are in critical care.
Mackenzie Health in Richmond Hill also has an active outbreak, the third of the pandemic. Eight health-care workers are infected, and no patients have contracted the virus, as of Dec. 21.
The first outbreak at Southlake began in late April which also began in the medical assessment and consultation unit after a staff member in the became infected.
By the time the outbreak ended mid-May, four staff and four patients were infected, and one 85-year-old Newmarket man had died after being exposed in the hospital as a patient.
The hospital used its staff radio-frequency identification badge system to quickly determine which staff and physicians had been in contact with the infected staff member and patients.
