Two new institutional outbreaks have been declared by Chatham-Kent Public Health and another at Fairfield Park has gotten worse.
On Monday morning, local health officials reported outbreaks at Tilbury Manor Nursing Home and Meadow Park Nursing Home in Chatham. The outbreaks were declared because each home has a staff member who tested positive for COVID-19.
The outbreak at Tilbury Manor was declared on Sunday and the outbreak at Meadow Park was declared on Saturday. Fairfield Park Nursing Home in Wallaceburg is still in outbreak and has added three more residents to the COVID-19 positive list. These are the first long-term care residents in Chatham-Kent to test positive for the virus. Fairfield Park has had a total of seven cases with four of them being staff members.
The number of active cases at the long-term care homes total eight -- two from outside of Chatham-Kent and six cases from Chatham-Kent. The three institutional outbreaks bring the total number of outbreaks to nine.
In a statement, Fairfield Park said Chatham-Kent Public Health notified the home over the weekend that three of its residents tested positive for COVID-19.
"We are working closely with Public Health to ensure we are following all isolation and infection prevention and control measures. The home will operate with increased public health measures until the outbreak is declared over. Employees continue to be tested for COVID-19 on a weekly basis. Residents will be tested throughout the outbreak at the discretion of Public Health and our attending physician," read the statement.
No general visiting is allowed at Fairfield because of the province-wide lockdown and only 1 essential caregiver per resident is allowed at a time. Full personal protective equipment provided by the home must be worn by all essential caregivers at all times, including gown, gloves, eye protection and a mask worn properly over the nose and mouth.
"The safety of our residents and our employees is our top priority. Thanks goes to our caring and dedicated Fairfield Park staff who continue to do their part in following exceptional infection control protocols. Please continue to do your part and help to keep our residents and staff safe. Only leave home for essential trips, keep a two metre distance between yourself and anyone not part of your household, practice good hand hygiene, wear masks whenever there is a chance you can’t keep that two metre distance, and please stay home if you are not well," said Fairfield administration.
CK Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby said the Fairfield Park outbreak is under control.
“We are working diligently to contain and manage this outbreak. We have been very successful at preventing such outbreaks but with numbers high in Ontario, it was almost inevitable,” Colby said.
The number of workplace outbreaks has decreased by one to four. Colby said on Thursday the outbreak at the Walmart in Wallaceburg was going to be declared over soon.
There are 15 active cases among those workplaces. The number of congregate living outbreaks remains at two.
The number of new COVID-19 cases is up by 42 across Chatham-Kent while 23 cases have been resolved. Active cases have increased by 19 to 103. One COVID-19 patient has been released from the hospital and three remain hospitalized. The number of people who have passed away from the virus remains at five.
Half of the active cases (58) are people who were exposed through close contact with other cases.