This time last week news broke that there was another COVID-19 outbreak at Guelph General Hospital, it was the first one of 2022, but it was not, as it turned out, the last. Earlier this week, the Hospital announced that they had a second, separate outbreak on a different floor, but on this Friday there’s at least some good news in that the Hospital is back to having just one outbreak.

In a late Friday media release from the Guelph General Hospital, authorities say that the outbreak on 6 West declared a week ago is over, and while the outbreak on 7 East remains, it could be declared over by this coming Thursday.

“The Hospital continues with all its pandemic protocols including a very restrictive visitors’ policy, a mandatory vaccination policy for all staff, enhanced cleaning and active screening of all patients and approved visitors,” the Hospital said in a statement.

One staff member and one patient were infected with COVD-19 during this outbreak.

The latest regional hospital report, which was also released on Friday, also painted a somewhat positive picture. Although the number of COVID cases in the hospital remains unchanged at 32, the Guelph General now has at least one ICU bed available, and even though it has no surge capacity at the moment that capacity is no longer over extended. The report walked up to the line of calling it good news and instead said that “there is some degree of stabilization.”

Still, the heads of the region’s four biggest hospitals are saying that despite being given permission from the Government of Ontario to start ramping up non-urgent procedures, they will be still be focusing their efforts on COVID for the time being.

“Specific to Waterloo Wellington, four hospitals are caring for a large number of COVID patients, managing active outbreaks, supporting the emergent care needs of our community, while addressing the challenges of the number of staff off due to COVID,” said Patrick Gaskin, president and CEO, Cambridge Memorial Hospital in a statement. “For these reasons, we are unable to begin to ramp up services or relax our visitor policies until these pressures subside.”

Back at Guelph General Hospital there was a bit of good news on Friday as Accreditation Canada has awarded the Hospital with the status of “Accredited with Exemplary Standing,” the highest level of achievement a Canadian healthcare provider can receive from the independent, not-for-profit organization that sets standards for quality and safety in health care.

“Despite all of the challenges we face related to the pandemic, our team demonstrated what they do best, which is to provide exemplary care and services,” said Hospital president and CEO Marianne Walker in a statement. “It’s especially meaningful to have this independent validation of our work now during the pandemic when excelling in quality and safety is of the utmost importance.”

“Our outstanding accreditation award is a tribute to the amazing effort by talented staff, professional staff, volunteers including our engaged Board of Directors and Patient and Family Advisory Council, our Foundation and a hospital-wide team dedicated to delivering the highest quality care and experience for patients and their families,” Walker added.