It’s been more than two years since the COVID-19 public emergency ended, but the infectious disease continues to circulate, and an outbreak has been declared at the Sudbury hospital cardiac unit. Health Sciences North declared the COVID-19 outbreak in 8 North on Monday. “We are asking all visitors and designated care partners to follow the steps below to prevent the spread of infection at HSN,” the hospital said Tuesday afternoon in a social media post. “Clean your hands frequently when visiting HSN using hand sanitizer, wear the appropriate personal protective equipment (gown, gloves and mask) when visiting patients who are on isolation and if you are sick, refrain from visiting friends and family members.” Masking at the hospital is optional, except on units experiencing an outbreak. “Visitors are required to self-screen for symptoms by reading signage as they enter the hospital,” HSN said. “Please do not visit patients at HSN if you are not feeling well, have had COVID-19 in the last 10 days or come into close contact with someone who has had COVID-19 in the last 10 days.” The number and severity of cases is not known. Public Health Sudbury & Districts continues to monitor respiratory illnesses in the community and posts details on the number of cases, hospital admissions and outbreaks for COVID-19, influenza and RSV. The respiratory illness surveillance dashboard numbers are updated each Wednesday by 4 p.m. “An endemic disease is one that is consistently present throughout a specific region or population. The prevalence of the disease remains stable and its spread is fairly predictable over time,” Public Health Ontario said. “A pandemic occurs when a disease spreads across countries or continents at a fast rate with new cases appearing every day.” Classification has more to do with the prevalence of the disease and not the severity, therefore, can move over time. Canada changed how it was updating its COVID-19 epidemiology reporting in October 2024. The disease is now included in the respiratory virus surveillance reporting along with influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). “Cases of novel coronavirus (nCoV) were first detected in China in December 2019, with the virus spreading rapidly to other countries across the world. This led WHO to declare a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on Jan. 30, 2020, and to characterize the outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, 2020,” the World Health Organization said on its website. “On May 5, 2023, more than three years into the pandemic, the WHO emergency committee on COVID-19 recommended to the director-general, who accepted the recommendation, that given the disease was by now well established and ongoing, it no longer fit the definition of a PHEIC. This does not mean the pandemic itself is over, but the global emergency it caused is – for now. A review committee will be established to develop long-term, standing recommendations for countries on how to manage COVID-19 on an ongoing basis."
