LONDON, ONT. -- The president and CEO of London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) did not mince his words in a letter to staff about the climbing number of COVID-19 cases amongst employees.
As of Thursday LHSC had 15 staff members with positive COVID-19 results with more than 50 others still under investigation or awaiting results.
In a letter to staff obtained by CTV News London, Dr. Paul Woods said that after reviewing internal contact tracing, most of the cases are the result of staff-to-staff transmission.
“To be clear: this is unacceptable, considering the infection control safety protocols and procedures LHSC has put in place over the past eight months,” wrote Woods.
The rise in cases comes as London-Middlesex has seen record-breaking cases throughout the community, the highest since the pandemic began.
The hospital, the largest in southwestern Ontario, currently has 11 COVID-19 inpatients, its highest number since the spring.
This comes after weeks of having five or less inpatients.
“I have said this many times over the course of the pandemic but given our current situation it bears repeating: as health-care workers we must set ourselves to a higher standard when it comes to living and modeling public health guidelines both inside and outside our workplace,” wrote Woods.
As of Thursday the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) was reporting 124 active cases within the community.
There were 23 new cases reported on Thursday.
