Hospital officials are keeping close tabs on Chatham-Kent’s increasing COVID-19 numbers.
As of Tuesday afternoon’s latest update from Public Health, there are 27 active cases of COVID-19 in Chatham-Kent, three of which are being treated in hospital.
Health Alliance CEO says those three patients in hospital are all in stable condition, but thigs can change at a moment’s notice.
“Up until now, while our community situation has been good, we’ve been trying to respond to the surgical backlog,” Marshall says. “We’ve been comfortable functioning well above 90% occupancy because we knew there wasn’t too much going on in the community with respect to COVID, really that’s changed this week.”
Marshall says the hospital is working to keep spaces open.
“We know that we need to continue to have some space and room available in the event the community needed those beds for COVID.”
Emergency and urgent procedures are carrying on, as usual, but Marshall says they’re limiting elective cases to about three a day.
The province has announced funding for 760 additional beds in hospitals across the province to help reduce surgical backlogs and improve access to care during COVID-19. However, Marshall says they’re still is still waiting to hear more details on how it affects the CKHA.