Peterborough Public Health reports a second resident at Fairhaven long-term care in Peterborough has died due to COVID-19, the second death this week at the facility.
The resident died on Wednesday evening, according to Fairhaven executive director Lionel Towns.
It’s the fourth overall COVID-19-related death for the health unit since the coronavirus pandemic was declared in March. An outbreak at Fairhaven was declared on Oct. 31 after a caregiver tested positive for COVID-19. Fairhaven notes the caregiver is not a direct employee of the municipally run 256-bed facility on Dutton Road.
On the weekend, a resident in the Westview 2 area of the home tested positive and the death of a 90-year-old woman was reported Wednesday by Public Health Ontario.
As of Thursday morning, there are five other residents who have also tested positive — all residing in Westview 2 — and are in isolation at Fairhaven, the health unit reports.
Dr. Rosana Salvaterra, medical officer of health, says officials believe the caregiver’s case can be sourced to a contact, but cautioned “we don’t have a smoking gun” when asked if the virus entered the home via the caregiver.
Fairhaven executive director Lionel Towns says the deaths have “devastated” staff and families during an already “bleak period.” He says everyone is “incredibly” frustrated after planning early in the pandemic after concerns of a COVID-19 case and a plan was implemented.
“You go through several months and there’s nothing and now we’re in the middle of one,” Towns said during a media conference Thursday. “I think it’s an indication of how difficult it is to detect and contain the virus. Even when you detect it, it still may have done, quote, ‘damage’ before it’s detected because of how there can be a time period when it is transferred to when there are symptoms.
“Everyone is a bit numb about it,” he added. “Because we felt we had prepared well for it. And there was a lot of confidence in staff and our residents and families.
“Frustrating is too weak a word. We’ve had to look at the situation and try to move two steps forward and implement plans to ensure people are safe depending on what we think could happen.”
Towns says the positive cases are in the facility’s Great Room, which has been converted into an isolation ward. Specific cohorted staff have been assigned to Westview 2.
Salvaterra says she has full confidence and optimism in staff at Fairhaven to get the outbreak under control. She says the facility has always taken infection prevention and control seriously and been a strong partner on health measures.
“Given the vulnerability of long-term care home facilities, we all need to be worried,” she said. “It’s why I stress the importance of following public health measures both on the inside of these facilities and outside.”
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She said being tested for COVID-19 every 14 days can give people a “false sense of confidence” that they’re disease-free.
“No one can know for certain if they’re COVID-free because the test is a point-in-time test,” she said. “When we work with vulnerable populations, we really need to take that seriously because we may be the weakest link in the chain.”
Towns says plans are to eventually relocate the cases to another area of the home as the isolation ward’s space is limited, he said.
Towns says residents are “scared and tired of the pandemic.”
“(They’re) wishing we were all out of the isolation that they’re feeling and going back to pre-pandemic times,” he said. “They’re missing interactions with each other and families. It’s very tough on them. We continue to have a high volume of virtual visits and capabilities but that doesn’t, of course, take the place of family interactions. So our recreation staff are working to keep them engaged as much as we can in a pandemic situation and to keep them in touch, at least virtually, with their families.
“But there’s no way of sugarcoating it — there’s a lot of fear, and that’s with our staff as well.”
All general and essential caregiver visits to Fairhaven have been cancelled and residential leaves are not permitted until the outbreak is declared over.
— More to come.
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