Within the span of just a few days, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases at a long-term care home in Barrie jumped from an employee and one person who lives there to seven residents and four staffers.
That's the current situation at Owen Hill Care Community, which is located at the corner of Owen and Wellington streets.
On a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit medical officer of health Dr. Charles Gardner explained why such facilities are susceptible to the virus spreading so quickly.
"We know that long-term care facility outbreaks are a phenomenon that's happening right now (across the province)," said Gardner, who added he's not surprised that institutional outbreaks and community transmission are dominating the new cases.
"We knew early on that it would be travel and then it would become established and then it would transmit in the community," he added. "We're at a different phase (now)."
Gardner said one of his main concerns around the pandemic at this juncture is in long-term care homes.
"We want to work very hard to avoid, as much as possible, the illness, the mortality and the heartache associated with that," he said. "On the whole, I think we've done a good job."
Part of the explanation for institutional outbreaks is the obvious: people living in long-term care homes are older and may have serious medical conditions, making them more vulnerable to the virus with possibly fatal consequences.
"If you create a population of people like that together, then there's a much greater likelihood that, if it gets in, there's going to be a huge or very serious effect on many people in that facility," Gardner said.
Another factor can include how a long-term care facility is designed.
"The older homes ... might have more than one individual per room, so it's difficult for people to have their privacy and to exercise ... the physical distancing that's required of us all to reduce risk," Gardner added.
Group homes, although smaller in size, present a similar risk, he added, with many people in close quarters.
"Correctional facilities are also a vulnerable situation, because of the large size and the potential for crowding of individuals," Gardner said. "Inmates in correctional facilities might very well have pre-existing medical conditions themselves that would put them at higher risk."
Gardner also confirmed today that two health unit workers have tested positive for COVID-19.
"This is, of course, something I deeply regret," he said, adding both cases appear to have been contracted in the community. "There's no evidence there was transmission at our facility. At least, we don't have that evidence yet."
The health unit offices are located on Sperling Drive in north-end Barrie. Gardner said employees do self-screening before they come to work and there is also screening at the doors.
"That can only pick up people when they have symptoms," he said, adding people can be "shedding" the virus for up to two days before displaying symptoms. "Once you pick up a case, you have to look back 48 hours before that to see who've they've been in contact with."
Gardner also noted there have been "a very limited number" of people at the site, as many employees are working from home wherever possible. He said more than 100 staff members are working remotely.
Also on Wednesday, the health unit is reporting an outbreak at Bayview Retirement Home in Waubaushene, where a staff member has tested positive for the virus.
An outbreak is declared when a single case is confirmed in a staff member or resident.
There are now five designated outbreaks at long-term care facilities in the region.
There have been cases confirmed in 11 staff and 34 residents at Bradford Valley Care Community. Seven residents have died and there are others who have been described as "quite ill."
Other confirmed cases in the region include a staff member at IOOF Seniors Homes in Barrie's Allandale area.
Two staff members at Woods Park Care Centre, located on Lillian Crescent in Barrie, have also tested positive.
There is also one case confirmed in a resident at an unnamed group home in Bradford.
There have been 15 deaths from COVID-19 in the region, including two men in their 70s in Barrie last month.
