CBC News · Posted: Mar 20, 2020   
      
      
   Alberta Health did not disclose to public or patients that Edmonton doctor   
   infected with COVID-19   
      
   Doctor saw patients, had elective surgery before testing positive   
      
   An Edmonton doctor returned from a trip to the United States late last month,   
   saw patients in early March, and had elective surgery at a hospital just days   
   before testing positive for COVID-19.   
      
   But although Alberta Health disclosed on March 11 that a patient at the   
   Misericordia Hospital in west-end Edmonton had tested positive,  it did not   
   disclose the "man in his 30s" was a rheumatologist, and that he had seen   
   patients.   
      
   Alberta Health also did not inform the patients seen by the doctor after he   
   returned from the U.S. that he was infected.   
      
   In an interview with CBC News Thursday, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief   
   medical officer of health, said the patients were not notified because the   
   doctor had no symptoms when he saw them.   
      
   "If we contacted everyone that people were involved with, before they even had   
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
   symptoms, that would be a huge use of our resources in public health and we   
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
   would alarm people unnecessarily if they're not at risk," Hinshaw said. "And   
   it also diverts resources away from the important task of contacting those who   
   are at risk of exposure."   
      
   Hinshaw stressed that Alberta follows national guidelines, based on the best   
   collective evidence, that define who is deemed to be at risk, when the risk of   
   exposure begins, and what the risks of transmission and exposure are.   
      
   In this case, Hinshaw took the extra precaution of calling in an infectious   
   diseases specialist to review their decision not to notify the doctor's   
   patients and the specialist agreed with that decision.   
      
   None of the doctor's patients have so far tested positive.   
   Hinshaw did not know how many patients the doctor saw.   
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
   In a statement to CBC News before the interview with Hinshaw, Alberta Health   
   stressed the infected doctor "did nothing wrong.   
      
   "They followed all directions in effect at the time, cooperated fully, and put   
   no one at undue risk based on the knowledge at the time.  This situation has   
   evolved rapidly and there is now protocol in place to ensure that all   
   Albertans, including    
   physicians, self-isolate for 14 days after returning to Alberta.  This has   
   been in place since March 12," the statement said.   
      
      
   Doctor returned from Seattle   
      
   CBC News has confirmed the doctor returned from a trip to Seattle, one of the   
   epicentres of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, and then saw   
   patients at a clinic on Thursday, March 5.   
      
   CBC News has agreed not to name the clinic. The identity of the doctor is not   
   known.   
      
   On March 6, the doctor had elective orthopedic surgery at the hospital and was   
   released the following day.  On Monday, March 9 the doctor tested positive. He   
   is now self-isolated at home.   
      
   In an internal email obtained by CBC News, Covenant Health, the publicly   
   funded Catholic health authority that operates the Misericordia Hospital, said   
   it had identified the staff and physicians who were in direct contact with the   
   patient, and they were    
   sent home for self-isolation.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)