A third staff-related coronavirus outbreak has been declared at Fairhaven long-term care home in Peterborough.
According to executive director Lionel Towns, on Sunday the municipally owned facility was informed a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. It’s the third staff member to test positive for COVID-19 since September.
As a result, Peterborough Public Health on Saturday declared an outbreak. It’s the 150th case of COVID-19 for the health unit since the pandemic was declared in March.
Fairhaven executive director Lionel Towns says no residents have tested positive and all residents and staff members or contract service providers in the home’s Westview 2 area will be tested.
“Contact tracing, by PPH, will occur for the caregiver who tested positive,” he said. “For instance, people (both from Fairhaven and in the community), that have been identified as having been within six feet of the individual who tested positive, without wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), will be notified.”
All general visits and resident leaves at the long-term care are prohibited until the outbreak is declared over. Palliative visits will continue.
One essential caregiver, as designated by a resident or their power of attorney, is permitted to visit — one per resident at one time.
Towns says enhanced house cleaning and extra disinfection for high touch surfaces are underway.
“If staff or visitors have worn their PPE, and have not had unprotected contact with the individual in question, they are definitely at extremely low risk for having the virus,” he said. “I completely understand the fear of COVID-19, especially when one has children or older relatives that you are in contact with. Early detection of the virus has been a key goal of our pandemic action plan since March and we believe that this case has been caught early which will generally make it easier to control.”
In September, there were two outbreaks related to staff who tested positive with separate incidents on Sept. 15 and Sept. 28.
“Please remember that our home has had strict standards of disinfection and infection control protocols since March and this has served us well during our other two staff-related outbreaks in protecting residents from contracting COVID-19,” Towns said. “Containment is never easy, especially given the continued trend toward higher case counts in coronavirus ‘hotspots’ surrounding the greater Peterborough area, but we have always met challenges the best when working together and I know everyone will co-operate and support each other through the outbreak.”
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