P.E.I. hospital suffers first COVID-19 outbreak since restrictions fully relaxed

A Prince Edward Island hospital is suffering from a COVID-19 outbreak for the first time since the province dropped basically all pandemic restrictions at its hospitals earlier this year.

The Kings County Memorial Hospital in Montague is one of two on the eastern side of the island. It’s normally open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., but now closes at 4 p.m. as the COVID-19 outbreak in the inpatient unit puts additional stress on hospital operations.

“The emergency room is very much connected to our inpatient services, said Edna Miller, administrator of Community Hospitals East. “A person comes into emerge, they need to be assessed, treated, and discharged, but for those people that the discharge actually includes an admission to the facility, that’s where it becomes problematic.”

Miller said, with the outbreak, the hospital is full, so any new admissions from the ER into the hospital would have to be transferred to another facility, which can take a considerable amount of time.

That coupled with staffing challenges, which limited the ER’s hours in the first place, means there simply aren’t the staff on hand to support late arrivals.

“Closing the emerge a little earlier is very concerning to people, but we just want to assure people that we are trying to provide a good, safe service, “ said Miller. “We do believe it’s required to do that.”

Officials have re-instituted infection controls in the hospital, including masking for staff, and limiting the number of visitors.

Miller said the outbreak hasn’t affected the function of the emergency room or other hospital services, so people shouldn’t be worried that there’s a higher risk of catching COVID-19 by using the hospital.

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