COVID-19 outbreaks declared at 2 long-term care homes in Huron-Perth

There are two new COVID-19 outbreaks in Huron and Perth counties.

On Sunday, public health reported outbreaks atKnollcrest Lodge in Milverton and at Mitchell Nursing Home.

Huron Perth Public Health (HPPH) said an asymptomatic staff member at Knollcrest Lodge whotested positive for the novel coronaviruswas positive again after they were retested.

At Mitchell Nursing Home, an asymptomatic staff member tested positive during routine surveillance testing and results on the retest are pending.

An outbreak was declared at Mitchell Nursing Home out of an abundance of caution, public healthsaid.

2nd test returned negative result

On Monday afternoon Jeff Renaud, the administrator at Mitchell Nursing Home, said the result of the second test came back negative and he expects the outbreak status will be lifted soon.

"It was a precautionary outbreak. We had a staff member who was asymptomatic, with an inconclusive test result so they made an assumption that it was a positive test result," Renaud told CBC News.

"That staffer then had a second swab and that swab came back negative. So the outbreak measures will be lifted and we don't have any presumptive cases at either homes.

Huron Public Health will probably go through the process of lifting their status recommendation later on Monday or Tuesday morning.

3rd death at Stratford home

Meanwhile, anoutbreak at Cedarcroft Retirement Place in Stratford continues, with a total of 23 confirmed cases 17 cases are in people who live at the homeand six cases are among staff members.

Another person living at the home died over the weekend, public health reported, noting the person was receiving palliative care when they tested positive for COVID-19. That brings the total number of people who have died from this outbreak to three.

Dr. Miriam Klassen, medical officer of health with Huron Perth Public Health, said outbreak control measures are in place at Cedarcroft and public health'soutbreak management team continues to work closely with the home to prevent further spread.

"HPPH appreciates the staff at Cedarcroft and all of our retirement and long-term care homes who are working hard to care for their residents while also taking all the appropriate precautions to prevent the spread of the virus," Klassen said.

HPPH noted other health partnersare collaboratingto support this facility, including Perth County Paramedic Services, the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance and the South West Local Health Integration Network.

Take precautions, public health says

HPPH is reminding peopleacross Huron and Perth counties that it is important to continue public health measures. These include:

• Stay home if you are sick.
• Wash your hands regularly and thoroughly.
• Maintain physical distance of at least twometres from people not in your household.
• Wear a non-medical, cloth face covering where physical distancing cannot be maintained.

"We must all act as if we could come into contact with COVID-19 anywhere in any community and act as if we could pass COVID-19 on unknowingly," Klassen said.

Huron-Perth Public Health is currently in the "green" or "protect" section of the province's COVID-19 framework.