An outbreak of COVID-19 has been declared at Providence Manor after a single staff member contracted the coronavirus.

“I want to stress, there are not residents with COVID-19 at the moment,” assured Cathy Szabo, president and CEO of Providence Care, at a news conference. “We are closely monitoring all individuals on the impact resident home area.”

The newly diagnosed staff member is one of four Providence Care employees who have tested positive for COVID-19. The three others work on two different floors at Providence Care Hospital. Dr. Kieran Moore, medical officer of health for Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Public Health, said one of the floors is the fifth floor in the Montreal Wing.

The two floors are no longer accepting admissions, leaving four beds empty.

“Because we’re a sub-acute hospital, we have beds that turn over. Sometimes we have 14 empty beds, sometimes we have two,” Szabo said. “Right now all the hospitals in Ontario are looking to discharge patients … everyone is preparing collectively for this COVID-19 crisis.”

The outbreak was specifically declared in one of the manor’s “home units,” which is a wing of 10 beds. Szabo said that all residents, their families and staff that would have come in contact with the infected members have been contacted and will be monitored for the next two weeks.

“All of the contact tracing has been completed or is being completed and we have been in contact with those that were in contact with the positive staff,” Szabo said.

The rest of the residents at the manor have been informed of the positive case, Szabo said. Moore said all residents are now to be assessed for the virus twice a day.

Two Providence Care Hospital staff members tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend and a third was diagnosed on Tuesday. None of them went back to work once they developed symptoms, but any other staff member or patient at the hospital who had close contact with the sick has been quarantined for 14 days. No patient at the hospital has tested positive for the virus as of yet, Szabo said.

Two of the three employees worked on the same floor and it is believed they contracted the virus “through the community,” though an investigation by public health is still ongoing, Moore said.

“I want to ensure families and the community that we are implementing every safety precaution possible at all Providence Care sites to protect their loved ones and our staff,” Szabo said.

Visitors to both sites are being restricted to those who are in palliative or end-of-life care. All visitors and staff are screened as they enter each facility, Szabo said.

“I can understand the anxiousness regarding COVID-19 and the elderly. I share that anxiousness, too,” Moore said. “I think these practices that we’ve put in play are the most stringent that we’ve ever had to protect that patient population, but, to be honest, this is a very aggressive virus and it can spread easily.”

scrosier@postmedia.com

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