53 COVID-19 infections at Calgary Foothills Hospital

ACalgary hospital was postponing surgeries and restricting visitors Monday as the number of people infected in multiple COVID-19 outbreaks climbed.

Alberta Health Services said 26 patients and 27 workers at the Foothills Medical Centre had contracted the novel coronavirus. Four patients had died.

Hospital medical director Dr. Peter

Jamieson said outbreaks were affecting five areas. It’s believed cases in cardiac and cardiac intensive care units are linked, but Jamieson said it’s not clear whether infections in surgical, transition and general medicine areas happened independently.

“We’re working hard to sort it out,” he said.

As of Friday, 136 workers were in isolation.

Visitors to the hospital are only allowed in end-oflife situations or if they have been approved as essential.

Jamieson said he hopes it only needs to be a shortterm measure.

“Family members and visitors are an important part of looking after a patient and helping them

get well, so we don’t take this step lightly.”

Jamieson added the hospital hasn’t noticed a downturn in the number of people coming to the emergency department, which remains open.

However, he knows that was an issue at the beginning of the pandemic, when patients put off getting necessary medical care because they were nervous about going to a hospital.

“I would want people to know that if they need the emergency department, they should come and we’re here for you,” Jamieson said.

Alberta Health Services has postponed 39 surgeries that were scheduled for Monday due to staff restrictions and a reduced number of inpatient beds at

Foothills. It said the procedures are being rescheduled as quickly as possible, most within the next week.

Foothills is the main southern Alberta centre for trauma, high-risk obstetrics and strokes, so Jamieson said there are no plans to stop patient intakes at this time.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer, said aggressive contact tracing is underway and it’s likely more cases will be identified.

“While of course the numbers are concerning, the information that I’ve received indicates to me that there is a very capable outbreak team who’s doing a tremendous amount of work to prevent there from being any onward spread.”

Hinshaw said she’s also concerned about an outbreak at the Millwoods Shepherd’s Care Centre in Edmonton, where there have been 19 cases and two deaths.

Alberta reported 1,549 active cases in its Monday update, which is an increase of 52 from Friday. There have also been four more deaths since then, bringing the total to 265.

Sixty-three people are in hospital, including 15 in intensive care.