The City of Ottawa says two residents and an additional staff member have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the Peter D. Clark long-term care home, the first confirmed cases of the virus in residents of a city-run facility.
The two residents are reported in stable condition and have been isolated from others in the long-term care home, according to a memo sent Friday by Donna Gray, the city’s general manager of community and social services.
The report marks the second employee at Peter D. Clark to test positive for the virus, with both affected staff members now in self-isolation.
To stem the spread of the virus throughout the home, residents have been asked to remain in their rooms and staff are being assigned to consistent shifts and their movement through the home is being limited.
The reports come one day after Mayor Jim Watson asked city staff to reverse course on banning family members from visiting residents of long-term care homes at windows, a policy put in place earlier this week in hopes of preventing the spread of the virus from reaching city-run facilities.
Dean Lett, the city’s manager of long-term care, told Global News on Thursday that the policy, which drew furor from Ottawa families and elected officials such as Premier Doug Ford, was meant to put the safety of staff and residents first.
“COVID-19 in a long-term care home is devastating. It wipes out residents, unfortunately,” Lett said.
“What we’re trying to do in every decision we make is to ensure the safety of residents and staff in our buildings… We need to take every possible measure to make sure we do that.”
The most recent report from Ottawa Public Health on Wednesday said there were more than 500 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, in local long-term care homes
.