After declaring a deadly 41-day COVID-19 outbreak over late last week, Fairhaven long-term care in Peterborough is reporting a new outbreak.
On Tuesday, executive director Lionel Towns says a person employed by the municipally run facility has tested positive for COVID-19. As a result, Peterborough Public Health has declared an outbreak for the Riverside 3 (R3) section of the facility on Dutton Road.
The health unit confirmed the declaration in an email to Global News Peterborough.
There are no confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 among residents, Towns said Tuesday morning.
“The virus was not acquired at Fairhaven and the individual has not worked in our building for the past five days,” said Towns.
“Our home has a strict staff/resident co-horting policy which means that the person who tested positive only worked on R3.”
Towns says on Wednesday morning all staff and residents in the R3 area will be swabbed for the coronavirus.
“All Fairhaven employees are tested every two weeks, regardless of whether that have symptoms or not, by Fairhaven staff,” he said. “All staff and residents, who present any single symptom of COVID-19, are also tested.”
An outbreak declared on Oct. 31 and was declared over last Friday claimed the lives of three of 20 residents who tested positive. They all resided in the Westview 2 area of the home. Five staff and caregivers also tested positive. It’s believed the outbreak began when a caregiver — not a direct employee — tested positive.
Towns says for the duration of the outbreak period, all visits will be postponed.
“There is a high rate of community transmission in the areas surrounding Peterborough and we need to take every precaution possible to ensure that the virus does not spread, or is not introduced, to other areas of our home,” he said. “It is too early to determine a projected end date for the outbreak; we will keep everyone informed as we receive more information.”
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