There is no COVID-19 outbreak at the Allandale Station Retirement Residence in Barrie, Ont., after it was determined that a resident likely tested false positive for the novel coronavirus nearly two weeks ago.
On Saturday, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit informed the Barrie retirement home that there’s no COVID-19 outbreak at the facility since the resident who initially tested positive was monitored and retested negative for the virus.
“We had one resident there who had tested positive,” Dr. Charles Gardner, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit’s medical officer of health, told reporters Tuesday.
At this time, it’s unclear how the false positive coronavirus test result could have occurred.
If there is one COVID-19 case at a long-term care centre or retirement home, the Simcoe Muskoka health unit considers there to be an outbreak at the facility.
“The reversal of the outbreak declaration and results of the universal testing at Allandale Station illustrates that our COVID-19 safety plan is working,” Steve Graham, president of MTCO Holdings, the developer and operator of Allandale Station, said in a statement.
“We will continue to follow the directives from Health Canada to protect our staff and residents from the virus and to prevent its spread.”
There have been coronavirus outbreaks at four other long-term care facilities and retirement homes in Barrie, Ont., two of which have been declared over.
The current COVID-19 outbreaks in Barrie are at Owen Hill Care Community and Whispering Pines Retirement Residence.
The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit has reported 125 COVID-19 cases in Barrie and 360 in Simcoe County.
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