Officials at Windsor Regional Hospital are urging everyone to remain vigilant following another COVID-19 related death at the Met Campus.
Hospital officials announced that Friday marked the 23rd death of a patient within the hospital. The unidentified patient died on Friday while being treated in the ICU.
The hospital added that the death rate hospitalized patients diagnosed with COVID-19 is now nearly 22 per cent. A total of 105 COVID-19 confirmed patients have been treated at the Met and Ouellette campuses.
As well, of the 51 patients who were cared for at the recently closed St. Clair College Sportsplex facility for long-term care residents, 16 patients died.
“We send our heartfelt condolences to those families who have lost loved ones due to COVID19. We cannot forget how the pandemic has cost dozens of lives in our region alone, and hundreds of thousands globally, and we need to keep vigilant to prevent its spread and be proactive and not reactive for individuals living in vulnerable settings” said WRH President and CEO David Musyj in a news release.
With the most recent death on Friday, there are currently no official cases of COVID-19 at either hospital campus for the first time since March 26. However, there are 54 patients currently in hospital who are suspected of having COVID-19 and are awaiting test results.
“We also recognize that while we currently have no confirmed COVID-19 patients in hospital, circumstances can change very quickly," said Dr. Wassim Saad, chief of staff for WRH. "The circumstances in Leamington and Kingsville where multiple agri-food business workers are confirmed to have COVID-19 almost daily also serves as an important reminder of how quickly outbreaks and community transmission can occur.”
The Windsor Essex County Health Unit reported 19 new cases of COVID-19 in within the region as of Friday morning. Of the new cases, 17 are linked to farmworkers, and two are related to household contacts of another case. To date, 30 per cent of the community’s 1,263 cases are connected to the agri-farm sector.
-With files from Maureen Revait