Five confirmed cases in CAMH outbreak,
New patient infections brings total number to 29 since pandemic began
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health has reported a COVID-19 outbreak at its Queen Street West site, with five patients testing positive for the virus. It is the first outbreak at Canada’s largest mental health hospital since April.
The outbreak was declared on Unit 1-4/IRU — an integrated rehab unit for patients with schizophrenia and related disorders, according to an internal memo sent to staff Sunday. “CAMH has implemented standard infection prevention and control procedures for respiratory outbreaks, including closing the unit to admissions and transfers,” a statement by CAMH said Sunday.
Two patients were said to have
COVID-19 on Sunday. By Monday at 5 p.m., CAMH updated its website to reveal three more patients had tested positive, boosting the total to five current patients with the virus.
The new outbreak brings the number of patients who have tested positive for the virus at CAMH to 29 since the pandemic began. Nineteen have since recovered and three were discharged. Two patients died after contracting COVID-19 in April; a 74-year-old patient in the geriatric unit who had multiple underlying health conditions, and a 53-year-old patient in the forensic unit who was transferred to a University Health Network hospital for care before they died. CAMH spokesperson Hayley Chazan could not comment on the status of the five patients currently infected with COVID-19 “due to privacy considerations.”
The current outbreak is the fourth at CAMH since March.
The other three were declared in the geriatric inpatient unit, the general forensic unit and the medium-security forensic assessment and triage unit, where individuals facing criminal charges are assessed to see if they are fit to stand trial.
Staff have tested positive as well. An internal memo sent Oct. 2 notified staff of one new hospital-acquired case of COVID-19. Another case was announced Oct. 9. A total of 40 staff have contracted the virus since the pandemic began; one of those cases remains active.
CAMH has been criticized in the past by mental health advocates of their initial lack of transparency on COVID-19 cases at the facility, and there are continued calls for the hospital to limit the number of people receiving in-patient care to slow further spread of the virus.
Anita Szigeti, a Toronto mental health lawyer with dozens of clients who are CAMH patients — two of whom tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this year — told the Star in April that neither Toronto Public Health nor CAMH had publicly released which units were locked down at the onset of the hospital’s first outbreaks, and she learned of them from internal memos sent to staff.
The hospital began releasing daily updates on COVID-19 cases as of April 2, but stopped doing so in late June, providing them sporadically instead.
Szigeti said she believes CAMH should now return to daily reporting of cases given Ontario is now in a secondwave of infections as of late September, and that they should be as transparent as possible about where the active cases of COVID-19 are.
“People who are thinking about seeking a voluntary admission to CAMH have the right to know if there’s a COVID outbreak within the institution and exactly how it is being handled,” she said.
Szigeti also criticized CAMH for not being proactive in reducing the risk of exposure within the hospital when cases were low in the late summer months. Just as provincial prisons released thousands of inmates to slow the spread of COVID-19, Szigeti said CAMH should have discharged patients where it’s safe to do so to limit the spread of the virus.
In response to Szigeti’s comments, Chazan said people who need mental health care will continue to be able to access care at CAMH and reaffirmed that CAMH has implemented all standard procedures for respiratory outbreaks. CAMH said they’ve also opened two isolation units to transfer patients who test positive for COVID-19.