Leamington's Erie Shores Healthcare has implemented some safety measures for patients heading in for non-urgent surgery.
The safety measures are part of provincial guidelines for resuming surgeries.
All patients having elective surgery are recommended to self-isolate for at least 14 days prior to surgery and are required to self-isolate for seven days before surgery.
Patients must also have a COVID throat swab within four days of surgery, which is done at the COVID assessment centre at the Leamington hospital.
If the swab test is negative, the patient can proceed to surgery. If the swab test is positive, the surgery will be postponed.
The hospital says these guidelines are to ensure a consistent approach to screening for COVID in patients and to reduce the risk for staff.