COVID-19

As pandemic measures ease with the loosening of provincial restrictions, Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC) is moving to passive screening of everyone entering the building effective Thursday, July 28, 2022.

This means that all outpatients and visitors will be required to self-screen for COVID-19 symptoms and potential exposure consistent with signage posted at the entrances prior to entering the hospitals.

While masking requirements in other high-risk areas like public transit will expire on Saturday, June 11, hospitals in Ontario Health’s Central region, including Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC), have confirmed their commitment to keep patients, staff, visitors, volunteers and vendors safe through a continuation of the masking requirement within these facilities.

Health experts have agreed that continued use of masking in hospital settings remains a simple and necessary safeguard.

Ontario Health has recently expanded eligibility for COVID-19 PCR testing for symptomatic and asymptomatic people with defined criteria that has been updated on the Bracebridge Assessment Centre webpage at www.mahc.ca/COVID-19testing/.

Generally, the guidance is prioritizing for molecular testing those at the highest risk of COVID-19, by including, for example, all symptomatic people aged 70 and older and all people who are immunocompromised.

Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC), in consultation with the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, has declared the COVID-19 outbreak on East Wing at Huntsville District Memorial Hospital (HDMH) Site over.

The outbreak lasted three weeks, and through outbreak management protocols including testing, 17 patient cases and six staff case were attributed to the outbreak in total.

This is a joint message from North Simcoe Muskoka (NSM) Region’s Hospital Chiefs of Staff and Medical Officer of Health.

The level of COVID-19 in the NSM region is on the rise.

Visiting to East Wing at the Huntsville District Memorial Hospital (HDMH) Site has been suspended after the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit placed East Wing under unit-specific COVID-19 outbreak status on March 29, 2022.

Testing of patients and staff is occurring as part of outbreak management protocols, and enhanced cleaning practices are underway to limit spread.

We, as leaders in Ontario’s health-care system, recognize every person has been impacted by the pandemic.  We thank them for the sacrifices made over the past two years to protect our health-care system and its lifeline, health-care workers.

As pandemic-related provincial restrictions are eased across Ontario, Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC) is moving to expand limited visitation for inpatients and removing the requirement for proof of vaccination against COVID-19.

Effective Monday, March 7, admitted inpatients may receive two (2) visitors each day who are over the age of 18 during visiting hours of 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., while continuing to adhere to strict visiting requirements. 

Earlier this week, Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC) gradually started to resume elective and non-urgent surgeries and procedures that were postponed as per government direction in early January.

The gradual and cautious resumption of non-urgent surgical activity at MAHC follows the provincial lifting of Directive #2, which instructed hospitals to pause non-urgent surgical procedures in response to growing COVID-19 case counts and hospitalizations across the province to ensure critical care capacity and human resources were available to care for hospitalized patients.