Montreal woman 'very upset' after elderly mother placed in shared hospital room with COVID-positive patient

A Montreal woman is raising concerns about COVID-19 protocols at Lakeshore Hospital after finding out her elderly mother tested positive for the virus since sharing a room with an infected patient.

Maimoona Lasania said she found out Wednesday that the man who was in the same room as her 92-year-old mother had COVID-19 and appeared to be seriously ill.

Hospital staff tested her mother that evening and the result came back negative, but Lasania has since learned she was tested again Thursday morning and it was positive.

"The first question that came to my mind is like, how can that be possible? Somebody who has COVID they can keep that person in the same room [as someone] who doesn't have COVID," Lasania told CTV News.

"It's my mom. We want our mom to have better health, live long, even if she's very old … We were concerned for that."

Maimoona Lasania said her mother spent three days in a hospital room with another patient who tested positive for COVID-19. She says the hospital acted too slowly to separate them and now her mother is infected with the virus. (Submitted photo)

She said she first learned about the other patient's COVID-19 status by overhearing it from the man's family. An orderly later confirmed the positive result as well, she said, so she asked that her mom not share a room with him anymore.

But Lasania said her mother had already shared a room with the patient for three day before the diagnosis, and accused the hospital on Montreal's West Island of acting too slowly to separate him from her mother.

She said her mother is triple-vaccinated and she is now banned from visiting her since she's infected, making her even more anxious about the situation.

"I come from a big family so we were always visiting my mom. We'd take turns, like you go at this hour, I will go at this this hour," she said. "My mom was never left alone during the day."

HOSPITAL SEPARATES CASES 'AS SOON AS POSSIBLE'

The regional health board said it could not comment on her specific situation due to confidentiality reasons, but a spokesperson wrote in a statement to CTV that the hospital separates positive cases "as soon as possible to limit the risk of transmission" in cases of double occupancy rooms.

Spokesperson Mélanie Araos said there are currently four COVID-19 outbreaks at the hospital resulting in 19 positive patients in hospital.

"The situation is evolving rapidly and our teams are working hard while respecting infection control and prevention (ICP) measures, including 2-meter separation and reduced visitation," the statement read.

"In the same vein, rest assured that room cleaning is done rigorously. We have air purifiers to improve ventilation in many of our facilities. Our cleaning team is also equipped with air purifiers to facilitate ventilation after a patient has been discharged. All of these measures are in place to ensure the safety of incoming patients."

The incident comes as cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations are rising in Quebec — a surge driven by Omicron's highly transmissible BA.2 variant.

On Wednesday, the Quebec's health ministry opened up fourth doses of the vaccine to all Quebecers 70 and older since they are more vulnerable to serious infection.