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SAH Declares COVID-19 Outbreak in Staff in the emergency department

Sault Area Hospital (SAH) has declared a COVID-19 outbreak in staff in the emergency department (ED). At present, there are two confirmed outbreak-associated positive COVID-19 cases in staff in the ED, and the outbreak is contained only to staff in the ED.  Staff who tested positive for COVID-19 are isolating at home.  Core ED workers are performing before-shift rapid antigen tests.  There are over 60 positive COVID-19 cases in workers at SAH, though these are not associated with the outbreak.

The Ministry of Health defines a COVID-19 outbreak in a public hospital as two or more laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases involving patients or staff within a specified area within a 14-day period where both cases could have reasonably acquired their infection in the hospital.

Despite this challenging time, our emergency department remains open.

If you have an emergency, please call 9-1-1 or proceed to the emergency department immediately. Do not delay care.

SAH is redeploying human health resources through our COVID-19 Surge Plan. Patients with non-urgent health care needs may want to consider these options before coming to the ED: call your family doctor, nurse practitioner or their on-call services. If not available, please visit a walk-in clinic – https://sah.on.ca/programs-services/emergency-services/community-health-clinics/.

If you are not sure whether you have an emergency, seek health-related advice from a Registered Nurse by calling Telehealth Ontario (24/7) at 1-866-797-0000. More information is available here – https://sah.on.ca/programs-services/emergency-services/

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