For the third time since September, a COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at Fairhaven Long-Term Care Home in Peterborough.
On Saturday (October 31), Fairhaven executive director Lionel Towns said COVID-19 had been detected in a swab test of a caregiver on Westview 2 at Fairhaven.
He said Peterborough Public Health confirmed the test result on Saturday afternoon and subsequently declared an outbreak at the home.
Towns said no residents have tested positive for COVID-19, and that all residents, staff members, and contract service providers on Westview 2 will be tested for the virus.
The health unit is also conducting contact tracing for the caregiver who tested positive, Towns added.
“All general visits will cease until the outbreak is declared over,” Towns said. “Palliative visits will continue.”
While general visitors are not allowed during an outbreak, under provincial guidelines issued on October 5th, essential visitors — including support workers and caregivers — are allowed access to the home during an outbreak, including a maximum of one caregiver per resident at a time.
However, Towns is requesting caregivers consider postponing any visits until the home is out of outbreak.
“While we have been informed by the ministry that we cannot prevent essential caregivers from visiting, I believe that it is in the best interest of the home, its residents and staff, if loved ones wait until the outbreak period is over (hopefully two weeks),” Towns said.
“A short period of time away, unlike the months of isolation imposed at the start of the pandemic, will potentially be the difference between a short outbreak and a longer period of time with the potential for the coronavirus to be in the building.”
Peterborough Public Health has declared two previous outbreaks at Fairhaven: one from September 15th to 28th, and another from September 28th to October 13th.
In each of those outbreaks, a staff member had tested positive for COVID-19.
