Local bring hospitals back mask mandates for staff

Local are hospitals among those across the province bringing back mask mandates, with COVID-19 cases on the rise.

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“In response to the increase in cases in the community and hospital, masking is temporarily being reintroduced as a measure to provide added protection to our patients,” said Dr. Tom Szakacs, infectious disease specialist and clinical microbiologist at the Brant Community Healthcare System.

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In addition to Brantford General Hospital and Willett Urgent Care Center in Paris, masking is also required for staff and volunteers at Norfolk General Hospital in Simcoe, Norfolk Hospital Nursing Home and Holmes House, a withdrawal management facility in Simcoe.

“This decision was made in close consultation with Public Health Ontario and in collaboration with our regional hospital partners,” said Aaron Gautreau, director of communications at Norfolk General. “It aligns with the collective goal of safeguarding the health and safety of our dedicated healthcare professionals and those under their care as we anticipate a potential increase in respiratory virus circulation during the fall and winter months.”

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While it remains optional for patients and visitors to the local hospitals, they are being encouraged to wear a mask throughout the respiratory season.

“We strongly recommend that everyone entering our clinical areas and care settings, such as our emergency department, consider wearing a mask when interacting or speaking directly to healthcare workers,” said Gautreau.

He said “it is of paramount importance” that those who aren’t feeling well refrain from visiting patients.

“We remain committed to providing the highest level of care and safety to our community and will continue to monitor the situation closely, adjusting our protocols as necessary to adapt to the evolving circumstances surrounding COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses.”

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Provincial wastewater testing has shown that COVID activity has been rising since early August and is now at levels not seen since last March.

Positivity rates have also been rising recently and sat at around 14.1 per cent in the first week of September, up from the 4.8 per cent low near the end of June.

“We expect seasonality with influenza and can expect COVID-19 to have some of the same characteristics, given we spend more time indoors going into the fall,” said Dr. Rebecca Comley, Brant’s acting medical officer of health. “At this point in time, it is still difficult to say exactly what the scale will be in terms of the level of cases we can see locally.”

Numbers updated on Tuesday by the Brant County Health Unit indicate the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Brant since the start of the pandemic is 13,465, with 13,290 of those cases resolved. There have been 131 confirmed deaths in Brant linked to the virus.

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Thirty-nine new cases have been confirmed in the last seven days. There are 44 active cases and 23 hospitalized cases.

However, the health unit says due to changes in eligibility for testing, “case counts are an estimate of the true number of individuals with COVID-19 in Brant.”

The Brant County Health Unit is booking appointments for those eligible to receive the new formulation of the COVID-19 vaccine, targets the XBB variant. Those eligible include hospitalized patients and workers, and residents and staff at long-term care homes. Vaccine administration will open to the general public when supply permits and local pharmacies are expected to have the updated vaccine in early to mid-October.

The Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit is reporting 22 weekly confirmed COVID-19 cases, with nine residents hospitalized. Since the start of the pandemic, the total count of COVID-19-related deaths in Haldimand Norfolk is 112.

The Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit is taking appointments and holding vaccine clinics.

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