The local Medical Officer of Health today announced three residents of a long-term care home in the City of Kawartha Lakes have been confirmed as having COVID-19.

The confirmed cases are: a male, 89, a female, 94 and a male, 61. All three are residents of Pinecrest Nursing Home in Bobcaygeon and are in isolation at the facility.

These are the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in a nursing home in the area served by the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit.

“We know our older residents are more vulnerable to this virus,” says Dr. Lynn Noseworthy, Medical Officer of Health for the HKPR District Health Unit.

“Because of the age and medical condition of their residents, long-term care homes in our area will often see a variety of illness throughout the winter months. Health Unit staff have been working with the staff of the home for some time now to ensure infection prevention and control measures are in place.”

Mary Carr, Administrator of Pinecrest, says the facility has been conducting active screening of visitors since March 12, 2020 and visitation to the facility has been restricted since March 14, 2020 based on the direction of Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health.

“We are focused on providing our residents with the best care possible during this difficult time,” says Carr.

“Our staff are going above and beyond to ensure our residents are receiving the care they require. We are grateful for their commitment and for the support and assistance we are receiving from Public Health, our community partners and our family members.”

With the confirmation of these cases of COVID-19 in the facility, Carr says residents have all been isolated into separate areas, meals are being served on trays, and staff have been using personal protective equipment (PPE) in their care of all residents.

The home, which houses 65 residents, had seen some illness in residents in the past week and a respiratory outbreak was declared on March 18. Tests were done on these three individuals and their test results were positive for COVID-19.

“With cases now in a nursing home in our area, it’s more important than ever that we all do our part to prevent the further spread of this virus,” says Dr. Noseworthy.

“We need to work together to protect our older and vulnerable family, friends and neighbours and this means doing our part by washing our hands, practising cough and sneeze etiquette, staying home when we are ill and not visiting medically fragile people during this time.”