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A South Dublin hospital is dealing with a significant coronavirus outbreak after 22 patients tested positive, and several staff members also isolated themselves awaiting test results.
St Columcille Hospital, Loughlinstown, confirmed to The Irish Times that several patients had contracted Covid-19 following an outbreak within the facility.
The outbreak can be traced to a patient in a ward who was initially asymptomatic, then developed symptoms, and later tested positive for Covid-19.
St Columcille’s Hospital is an acute care hospital with over 100 beds serving south east Dublin and east Wicklow.
“There are currently 22 patients with Covid-19 that stemmed from an outbreak within the hospital,” said a spokeswoman for the Ireland East Hospital Group.
“A patient who was asymptomatic in a hospital ward developed symptoms and was subsequently tested for Covid-19,” he said.
“The surveillance process was implemented immediately by the infection control and microbiology teams and all patients and staff considered close contacts were subsequently evaluated,” the spokeswoman said.
“Several staff members who have had close contact with patients have been screened for Covid and are currently self-isolating as outlined in the Covid-19 security and contact tracing protocols,” the statement said.
It is understood that some hospital staff members expressed concern about the initial management of the outbreak and possible transmission between different wards.
The hospital’s injury unit, medical evaluation unit and outpatient services remain open and have not been affected by the outbreak, the spokeswoman said.
“The Hospital Covid Outbreak Committee, which is led and informed by our consulting microbiologist, the hospital’s infection prevention and control team, the hospital’s consultants, the HSE department of occupational health and the department of public health of HSEs have met daily since the outbreak and progress has been made to stabilize the situation, ”the spokesperson said.
Speaking Thursday at a Health Services Executive (HSE) briefing, Professor Martin Cormican, a national leader in healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance, said the number of patients who acquire Covid-19 in the hospitals had increased in recent weeks.
There were 38 cases in which patients acquired Covid-19 while in the hospital the week ending November 1, and this increased to 100 patients in the week ending November 8.
Speaking at the briefing, Professor Cormican said that preventing the spread of infection in hospitals “is always difficult”, because the nature of the environment required “intense person-to-person interaction.”
“When a hospital has an outbreak, you can get a large number of cases in a very short time. We know that Letterkenny, Limerick and Naas have been battling large outbreaks, so the numbers went up pretty quickly, “he said.
Earlier this month, several Covid-19 outbreaks at Limerick University Hospital and Ennis Hospital, Co Clare, resulted in cancellation of all routine outpatient appointments and most elective procedures.
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