A staff member at a private long-term care home in suburban Montreal where dozens of residents died during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has tested positive for the disease, the local health agency said Sunday as Quebec reported its highest single-day total of COVID-19 cases since May.
Helene Bergeron-Gamache, a spokeswoman for the CIUSSS-Ouest-de-l’Ile-de-Montreal, said the agency was informed Saturday morning that a staff member at Residence Herron tested positive for COVID-19.
All residents who had been in contact with that person have been tested for COVID-19 and are now self-isolating in their rooms, Bergeron-Gamache said in an email.
Other staff who were in contact with the infected person have also been tested, but Bergeron-Gamache did not say how many residents or staff had been tested so far.
Thirty-eight people died at Residence Herron between March 26 and April 16, according to a Quebec government report released earlier this week.
The report detailed the chaos that followed the discovery of the first case at the facility on March 26, and its devastating effects on a residence described as ill-prepared to confront a pandemic.
READ MORE: Quebec asks citizens to stop social gatherings for 28 days to ‘break’ second coronavirus wave
In late March, regional health authorities found only three employees on site to care for 133 residents, some of whom were wearing overflowing diapers and suffering from dehydration.
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Quebec reported 896 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, the province’s highest single-day tally in months, and Health Minister Christian Dubé said the increase in cases is primarily due to community transmission.
“We’re asking to limit contacts over the next weeks,” Dubé wrote on Twitter after the number was announced. Later on Sunday Dubé gave an interview on Radio-Canada’s talk show “Tout le monde en parle” and said that Montreal and Quebec City could be declared red zones (maximum alert) in the coming days.
Health officials also reported four additional deaths attributed to the coronavirus: two in the past 24 hours, and two that took place between Sept. 20-25.
The province has now recorded a total of 71,901 COVID-19 cases and 5,825 deaths.
Another COVID-19 outbreak was reported at a long-term care home in Laval, Que., north of Montreal, this weekend.
Judith Goudreau, a spokeswoman for the local health agency CISSS Laval, said Sunday that 11 residents and seven staff members at Centre d’hebergement Idola-Saint-Jean had tested positive.
Goudreau said the residents who tested positive have been moved into a “red zone” on the ground floor of the facility, which has a capacity of 25 beds.
Visits to the facility have been suspended, Goudreau said in an email, and all employees and residents will be tested for COVID-19.
Quebec authorities also said Sunday that hospitalizations went down by one over the past 24 hours for a total of 216.
Of those, 41 people are in intensive care — a drop of four from the previous day.
Officials said 27,380 COVID-19 tests were conducted on Sept. 25, the last date for which the testing data is available.
–with files from Global News’ Alessia Maratta
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