KAWARTHA LAKES-Campbellford Memorial Hospital has implemented visitor restrictions at the hospital after the local health unit today declared a COVID-19 outbreak.
The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (HKPR) District Health Unit declared the outbreak after six patients in the medical surgical unit on the second floor tested positive for COVID-19. No staff cases have been identified in the hospital. Of the six individuals with COVID-19, three of the patients were fully vaccinated, and three were not fully vaccinated according to hospital officials.
As a result of the outbreak declaration, the medical/surgical unit has been closed to all visitors with the exception of those visiting patients in hospital for end of life care. The outpatient Endoscopy Suite on the second floor has also been closed. The Emergency Department, located on the first floor of the hospital, does remain open. Visiting rules in the ED have not changed and minor children and elderly adults who need supportive care can continue to be accompanied by one person.
Alysia English, Director of Patient Care at Campbellford Memorial Hospital, says hospital staff are working closely with the Health Unit to ensure appropriate infection prevention and control practices have been put in place at the hospital to prevent further spread of the virus.
“While we continue to have appropriate COVID-prevention measures in place at the hospital, we are now implementing additional processes and heightened infection control practices to ensure we stop any further spread and ensure the safety of our patients and staff,” English said.
The staff of CMH are continuing to work with the HKPR District Health Unit to monitor the outbreak and support case and contact tracing. Additional testing of close contacts is also being conducted at the facility. As well, the hospital will continue to implement enhanced environmental deep cleaning of the buildings.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of infection prevention and control procedures and the best practices the Hospital needs to maintain with all interactions with patients. It’s why handwashing, physical distancing and the proper use of personal protective equipment are so essential,” says Marilyn Petherick, Infection Control/OR Nurse at CMH, adding: “within the Hospital and in our community, we must all continue to be vigilant in following the public health measures of maintaining physical distancing, wearing a mask, consistent hand washing and getting vaccinated.”
People in need of emergency medical care continue to be encouraged to seek out medical support at the hospital’s Emergency Department.
“Campbellford Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Department is continuing to serve patients with any emergent or urgent conditions while ensuring proper infection control practices to enhance the safety of patients and their care providers. If you are seriously unwell and need immediate, urgent medical care, waiting too long may cause your problem to become much more serious and difficult to treat and may result in more permanent injury or disability,” stated Dr. Bruce Bain, Chief of Staff at CMH.
While Hospital staff is making every effort to ensure the impact to non-emergency services is as minimal as possible, patients with scheduled appointments at the hospital that may be impacted by this outbreak will be contacted directly by hospital staff.
The community is also encouraged to reach out to their primary care provider or telemedicine clinics for non emergency care and CMH reminds everyone to remain vigilant in the fight against COVID-19 by continuing to follow public health guidelines such as washing your hands frequently, wearing a mask when in an indoor public space, maintain physical distancing and getting vaccinated.
Some Ontario doctors have started offering a free shot that can protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus while Quebec will begin its immunization program next month.
The new shot called Nirsevimab gives babies antibodies that provide passive immunity to RSV, a major cause of serious lower respiratory tract infections for infants and seniors, which can cause bronchiolitis or pneumonia.
Ontario’s ministry of health says the shot is already available at some doctor’s offices in Ontario with the province’s remaining supply set to arrive by the end of the month.
Quebec will begin administering the shots on Nov. 4 to babies born in hospitals and delivery centers.
Parents in Quebec with babies under six months or those who are older but more vulnerable to infection can also book immunization appointments online.
The injection will be available in Nunavut and Yukon this fall and winter, though administration start dates have not yet been announced.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
-With files from Nicole Ireland
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Polio cases are rising ahead of a new vaccination campaign in Pakistan, where violence targeting health workers and the police protecting them has hampered years of efforts toward making the country polio-free.
Since January, health officials have confirmed 39 new polio cases in Pakistan, compared to only six last year, said Anwarul Haq of the National Emergency Operation Center for Polio Eradication.
The new nationwide drive starts Oct. 28 with the aim to vaccinate at least 32 million children. “The whole purpose of these campaigns is to achieve the target of making Pakistan a polio-free state,” he said.
Pakistan regularly launches campaigns against polio despite attacks on the workers and police assigned to the inoculation drives. Militants falsely claim the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
Most of the new polio cases were reported in the southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh province, following by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and eastern Punjab province.
The locations are worrying authorities since previous cases were from the restive northwest bordering Afghanistan, where the Taliban government in September suddenly stopped a door-to-door vaccination campaign.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the two countries in which the spread of the potentially fatal, paralyzing disease has never been stopped. Authorities in Pakistan have said that the Taliban’s decision will have major repercussions beyond the Afghan border, as people from both sides frequently travel to each other’s country.
The World Health Organization has confirmed 18 polio cases in Afghanistan this year, all but two in the south of the country. That’s up from six cases in 2023. Afghanistan used a house-to-house vaccination strategy this June for the first time in five years, a tactic that helped to reach the majority of children targeted, according to WHO.
Health officials in Pakistan say they want the both sides to conduct anti-polio drives simultaneously.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of people with private health insurance would be able to pick up over-the-counter methods like condoms, the “morning after” pill and birth control pills for free under a new rule the White House proposed on Monday.
Right now, health insurers must cover the cost of prescribed contraception, including prescription birth control or even condoms that doctors have issued a prescription for. But the new rule would expand that coverage, allowing millions of people on private health insurance to pick up free condoms, birth control pills, or “morning after” pills from local storefronts without a prescription.
The proposal comes days before Election Day, as Vice President Kamala Harris affixes her presidential campaign to a promise of expanding women’s health care access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to undo nationwide abortion rights two years ago. Harris has sought to craft a distinct contrast from her Republican challenger, Donald Trump, who appointed some of the judges who issued that ruling.
“The proposed rule we announce today would expand access to birth control at no additional cost for millions of consumers,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Bottom line: women should have control over their personal health care decisions. And issuers and providers have an obligation to comply with the law.”
The emergency contraceptives that people on private insurance would be able to access without costs include levonorgestrel, a pill that needs to be taken immediately after sex to prevent pregnancy and is more commonly known by the brand name “Plan B.”
Without a doctor’s prescription, women may pay as much as $50 for a pack of the pills. And women who delay buying the medication in order to get a doctor’s prescription could jeopardize the pill’s effectiveness, since it is most likely to prevent a pregnancy within 72 hours after sex.
If implemented, the new rule would also require insurers to fully bear the cost of the once-a-day Opill, a new over-the-counter birth control pill that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved last year. A one-month supply of the pills costs $20.
Federal mandates for private health insurance to cover contraceptive care were first introduced with the Affordable Care Act, which required plans to pick up the cost of FDA-approved birth control that had been prescribed by a doctor as a preventative service.
The proposed rule would not impact those on Medicaid, the insurance program for the poorest Americans. States are largely left to design their own rules around Medicaid coverage for contraception, and few cover over-the-counter methods like Plan B or condoms.
