While the official number as of Thursday morning is five confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Windsor-Essex, the CEO of Windsor Regional Hospital said about 50 patients are being treated for the virus until health officials know for sure they do not have it.
Right now, doctors are erring on the side of safety and assume the patients have the virus that has now killed 35 people across Canada. They are waiting for confirmation from a lab in Toronto, and the wait is up to 10 days.
"We're going through a lot of personal protective equipment because the staff have to wear it," said CEO David Musyj. "If they all come back negative, or a number of them do, that's PPE we could save when we really need it."
A list of businesses, including dental offices, have donated personal protective equipment. St. Clair College is also providing beds and ventilators. The University of Windsor is throwing in two ventilators too. Those donations have started to arrive at the hospital.
While a lab in London is expected to reduce the wait times for patients suspected of having the virus, unfortunately, Musyj said the patients in the hospital now were swabbed before it opened.
The lab in Toronto is dealing with a large backlog of tests from across the province.
"Toronto has indicated it's throwing more resources at it, but it just got hammered too," he said.
Ontario recorded another 100 confirmed cases Wednesday, bringing the provincial total up to 688.
"On top of it, there's an issue with the reagent they use to do the test. There's an international shortage of the reagent," explained Musyj. "Originally, it was an international shortage of swabs. We're getting swabs now."
Fortunately, the cases have not hurt capacity at Windsor Regional. Musyj said postponing elective surgeries and procedures opened up beds. He is keeping his fingers crossed that will be enough when the worst of the pandemic hits the region.
"We're waiting for the surge to come. Which we're told happens pretty much overnight. You'll go from seeing very little to it comes in all at once," he admitted.