The chief of staff at Bluewater Health hopes to be back to regular operating room and diagnostic test standards by mid-July.

Dr. Michael Haddad made the comments in a video released by the hospital today.

Haddad says because there are no COVID-19 patients in the hospital, officials are able to “continue to ramp up clinical services.”

“We’re hoping to be back to almost pre-COVID levels by mid July provided there is no other issues,” he says. That might include problems getting personal protective equipment or an uptick in the number of people who are hospitalized with COVID-19.

Haddad says Canada is bucking the world-wide trend of increasing cases of the virus and he urges people to continue to wash their hands frequently, keep six feet apart from others and wear a mask when that is not possible.

There have been four people test positive with COVID-19 since Thursday – including one more Bluewater Health worker. The hospital’s COVID-19 unit has an outbreak after three health care workers who had worked with the residents of Vision Nursing home tested positive.

In all, there were 1,492 people tested for COVID-19 last week, bringing the total number of people in the region tested to 10,777 as of Monday. There have been 285 people test positive since mid-March – 15 are currently ill with the virus.