While several coronavirus outbreaks have come to an end in Northumberland County, one at the Golden Plough Lodge long-term care home in Cobourg, Ont., continues to grow.
A third employee at the Burnham Street home has tested positive for COVID-19 while the region’s health unit reported five new cases and four outbreaks over on Tuesday afternoon.
Northumberland County, which owns and runs Golden Plough Lodge, reported Monday night that a third employee has tested positive. An outbreak at the 151-bed home was initially declared on Jan. 15 after one staff member tested positive.
The home’s first outbreak was declared on Dec. 21 after one staff member tested positive and was deemed over on Jan. 3. There were no other cases.
Home administrator Bill Detlor says a protocol of weekly staff testing and twice-daily screening of all residents and staff remains in place.
“We are working around the clock to keep this virus out of our home and keep our residents and staff safe,” he said.
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“The recent identification of three positive cases among staff is certainly troubling. It is a testament to the effectiveness of current monitoring systems that we are able to identify cases early in order to minimize risk and start supporting affected staff members as quickly as possible. We will continue to keep our residents, families and community informed as we navigate this outbreak and prepare for the welcome rollout of vaccines at the GPL in the coming weeks.”
The outbreak is among six that are active for the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health. Others include:
- Caressant Care Mary St. long-term care and Caressant Care Mary retirement home (adjoining homes) in Lindsay (declared Jan. 22 and Jan. 23 — one employee)
- Caressant Care McLaughlin in Lindsay (declared Jan. 9 — 21 residents and 23 staff as of Monday)
- Warkworth Place long-term care in Warkworth (declared Jan. 17 — one resident death, two staff test positive)
- Hope Street Terrace long-term care in Port Hope (declared Jan. 1 — two resident deaths, 16 other residents and 15 staff members test positive)
Outbreaks were declared over Tuesday at the following facilities:
- Tower of Hope in Port Hope (declared Jan. 12 — one resident tested positive)
- Canadian Centre for Addictions in Port Hope (declared Jan. 15 — no case details available)
- Maplewood retirement home in Brighton in Northumberland County (declared Jan. 9)
- Fenelon Court long-term care in Fenelon Falls (declared Jan. 8 — one staff member)
“In recent weeks, we have seen a number of new cases locally, especially in our area long-term care homes,” stated Dr. Ian Gemmill, the health unit’s acting medical officer of health.
“In working with our homes, including the Golden Plough Lodge, we know they are doing all they can to stop the spread of the virus within their facilities. With the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine locally, and the rollout beginning this week in area long-term care homes, we are one step closer to getting the vaccines into the arms of those most vulnerable.”
On Tuesday, the health unit reported five new cases of COVID-19 (825 cumulative cases, up from 818 reported on Monday) — three in the CIty of Kawartha Lakes and two in Northumberland. The health unit notes data is subject to constant change if cases are reassigned.
Both resolved and active case data was not updated on the health unit’s website as of mid-Tuesday afternoon.
Since the pandemic’s beginning, there have been 45 COVID-19-related deaths, which includes 39 in the City of Kawartha Lakes — 28 associated with the outbreak at Pinecrest Nursing Home in the spring of 2020. There have been six deaths in Northumberland County.
More to come
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