Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital Declares COVID-19 Outbreak In Surgical Unit

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre joins the list as Toronto’s 7th hospital to declare a COVID-19. The hospital located near Bayview and Lawrence avenues recently discovered 5 positive cases in their surgical unit.

Sunnybrook’s current control measures and broader testing allowed them to discover these cases early on. The first 3 cases were linked to each other and lead to the discovery of an additional 2 cases.

According to a statement released by the hospital Friday. “ All of the patients are asymptomatic, and one has been discharged. Outbreak control measures are in place, and there has been no transmission to other patient care areas of the hospital.”

“An outbreak is defined as two cases or more. We are not talking here about hundreds of cases, but we are talking about something serious because of where it is. We are talking about a virus that is still very much present in our city.” Mayor John Tory said.

The 6 other hospitals include  Scarborough Health Network ( 6 Cases), University Health Network ( 4 Cases), Toronto Rehabilitation, St. Michael’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Health Centre, Toronto Western Hospital, and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

“Sometimes people hear about this on the news, and they get a bit nervous. They say, ‘Well you know what, there is an outbreak at a hospital. I shouldn’t go in.’ And the answer couldn’t be farther from the truth. There are certain protocols in place to keep patients safe. Therefore, this should not push anyone away from coming to the hospital if they need to be here. Infectious Diseases Specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch Said.

 Sunnybrook Hospital will remain open and continue taking patients further notice. According to the Toronto Health Department, 25,618 cases have been reported, and 21,509 people have recovered.