A s of January 2022 in Canada, about 2 300 000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed since the beginning of the pandemic, with more than 30 500 deaths. 1 During the first wave of this pandemic (first half of 2020), the province of Quebec, whose population was nearly 8.5 million as of January 2021, 2 had the highest number of COVID-19 cases compared with other provinces. Montréal was the epicentre, accounting for more than one-third of all cases in the province. 3 In the first wave of the pandemic, about 10% of patients who developed COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, required admission to hospital and 5% required admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). 4,5 Older patients and those with existing comorbidities are at higher risk of adverse outcomes. 5 Amid this pandemic, hospitals have tried to continue their usual activities and provide urgent care. Unfortunately, hospital admission represents a potential environment for viral transmission to vulnerable patients. 6 As of February 2021, there were mixed data about outcomes for patients with hospital-acquired (HA) SARS-CoV-2 infection compared with non-hospital-acquired (NHA) infection, as well as inhospital transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2. Some studies showed a case fatality rate as high as 36% for patients with HA-COVID-19, 7 while others reported a mortality rate lower than that of patients with NHA-COVID-19. 8 Therefore, we aimed to assess whether mortality and complications were increased in HA cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection when compared with NHA cases at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont. We also explored the role of patients sharing multi-bed rooms in hospital with respect to in-hospital transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
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