Grand River Hospital (GRH) has declared a COVID-19 outbreak in one of its medicine units.

It becomes the second Kitchener hospital to do so in less than a week after St. Mary’s General Hospital (SMGH) also declared an outbreak over the weekend.

GRH says it has declared the outbreak in of its medicine units, 8A, after discussions with Waterloo Public Health.

The hospital says that at the beginning of April a patient was admitted without symptoms but by mid-month, they had developed respiratory symptoms and tested positive for COVID-19.

In addition, a person who was sharing a room with the patient and a caregiver for the pair have also developed symptoms.

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GRH says that a hospital outbreak is declared when two or more people are linked and test positive for a respiratory illness that was acquired in the hospital in a consistent timeframe.

The hospital says the outbreak has been contained to the affected wing and that it has reached out to anyone else who may have come in contact with those who were infected already.

“We wish our staff and these patients a safe recovery,” Bonnie Camm, VP, clinical services at Grand River Hospital said in a statement. “We are extremely grateful for the dedication and commitment our staff have shown in providing care to our community throughout this pandemic. We will continue to implement practices and measures that will keep our staff, patients and hospital safe.”

SMGH declared an outbreak on Saturday in two separate wings of the hospital which forced it to close its third floor to new admissions.

The hospital says that a patient on the third floor had tested positive for COVID-19 and it is believed it was caught by another patient they were sharing a room with. A caregiver also tested positive for the virus.

On the sixth floor of the hospital, it is believed the virus was transmitted between staff members although no patients in the ward have tested positive.

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