Providence Care confirms new case of COVID-19 at Providence Manor

Providence Care says it received confirmation on Monday that a Providence Manor resident has tested positive for the coronavirus.

As a result, an outbreak has now been declared in the Sydenham 4 unit at the long-term care home.

“Our entire organization is devastated to learn a Providence Manor resident tested positive for COVID-19,” says Cathy Szabo, Providence Care president and CEO. “Our infection prevention and control and occupational health, safety and wellness teams have been working alongside KFL&A Public Health to make sure we have every safety precaution possible in place to help limit the spread of the virus.”

Providence Care said an outbreak — previously declared at the beginning of April after a Providence Manor staff member tested positive for the virus — was over on Wednesday after the staff member recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

Nevertheless, Dr. Kieran Moore, medical officer of health for KFL&A Public Health, said it’s not unsual to see outbreaks reoccur.

“Sadly, we do expect outbreaks to still continue to occur in our community despite everyone’s best efforts because this is an aggressive, virulent virus that wants to spread from person to person very quickly,” said Moore.

The resident was placed in isolation on Friday, April 17 and was tested for the virus on Saturday, according to Moore. Providence Care received the positive test result less than 48 hours later.

An investigation is currently underway to determine how the resident contracted the virus.

Moore said it’s unlikely the virus was transmitted by another resident.

“It really can’t have just come from patients. The patients haven’t been moving significantly between hospitals at all in our long-term care facilities. There’s been some restriction on movement. So it really has to be some other means,” Moore said.

He said it’s much more likely that the disease was transmitted by a visitor or a health-care professional.

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“The commonest would be if a family member, if there was someone visiting under those extreme palliative rules or severe illness rules and or a health-care worker. And no one wants to point blame at anyone. Sometimes you can have very minimal, if not zero, symptoms with this virus,” Moore said.

Any staff or residents that came in close contact with the confirmed resident are being contacted and monitored for signs and symptoms over the next 14 days. As per a Ministry of Long-Term Care directive, all staff and residents on Sydenham 4 are being tested for the coronavirus.

“All of the health-care workers that are on that floor also have to get tested,” Moore said.

“We’re going back many days. Anyone that’s been on that floor for the last five days will be offered and suggested to get tested,” Moore said Monday. He says public health officials will be physically going to the long-term care home Monday to swab staff and residents.

There are 37 residents who reside on Sydenham 4, but Moore said the unit works closely with another unit at the home, therefore Providence Care and KFL&A Public Health will be testing two units, which amount to about 70 residents.

The resident who tested positive for the virus has a private room on the floor. At this time, no other residents are showing signs or symptoms of the virus, Providence Care said.

“I know this is a scary time for family members with loved ones at Providence Manor, but please know our teams care deeply about our residents and we promise to do everything we can to keep them and our staff safe,” says Szabo.