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Two more long-term care outbreaks, another COVID-19 death reported in Simcoe Muskoka

The two outbreaks were declared at Barrie long-term care homes due to a staff member testing positive for the coronavirus
Screen Shot 2020-04-20 at 4.23.59 PM
Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health for Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, delivers an update to the media on April 20. Screenshot

Another resident at Bradford Valley Care Community, a woman in her 90s, has died from COVID-19.

She is the seventh resident at Bradford Valley whose death is being attributed to COVID-19.

There are now 37 confirmed cases of COVID-19 connected to the outbreak at the long term care facility, including seven residents who have died. There have been ten staff members confirmed positive (three do not live in the region) and 30 residents have tested positive.

The health unit has now declared outbreaks at two Barrie long-term care facilities and confirmed today a single staff member at IOOF and another at Woods Park Care Centre have tested positive for COVID-19. Each facility houses about 170 residents.

Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health for the region, said as per the recommendations of the province the health unit will be working with the facilities to make sure every resident and staff member get tested for COVID-19.

However, Gardner said that would take time.

The health unit will declare the outbreak after just one positive test result in a staff member or resident. So far, no lab-confirmed cases have been reported among the residents.

The health unit is now reporting a total of 218 cases in the region, but that doesn’t include six cases previously reported in individuals that have since moved outside of the region.

Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health said “their statistics follow them.”

There have been 21 new cases reported in the region since Monday.

“We are still continuing to get cases in the range of 10 cases per day,” said Gardner. “We’ve been very fortunate in that we haven’t had a big surge in our health care system to date.”

He acknowledged there have been devastating effects in long-term care homes including at one in the region and said it’s important to protect long-term care homes.

“We are having an effect and we are flattening the curve, but we have to be very careful because it could all come back,” said Gardner. "I don't expect a massive surge out of this, I would expect a limited surge if it's going to happen."

Of the 218 cases listed on the health unit website, 109 people have recovered, 15 people have died, and 12 people are hospitalized. There have been 77 cases attributed to community transmission, 51 to close contact, and 52 to travel. 

The health unit has reported eight cases in Collingwood, though the website currently lists there have been seven. Six people have recovered.

There have been two cases reported in Clearview, both have recovered.

There have been seven cases reported in Wasaga Beach, though the health unit is only listing six cases now. Three people have recovered and one man has died.

Barrie has the highest number of cases of any community in the Simcoe Muskoka region. There have been 60 cases confirmed, and of those 26 have recovered, three are still in hospital and two have died.

There were seven new cases reported today (April 22) including three men in their 20s, three women in their 20s and a woman in her 60s. Four of the cases were close contact transmission and three were community-acquired.

In Innisfil, there have been 11 cases confirmed, five of those have recovered and one person is in hospital.

There have also been five cases confirmed in Springwater. One person has died and the remaining four cases have recovered.

There have been 58 cases confirmed in Bradford West-Gwillimbury, and of those, 30 have been connected to the outbreak at Bradford Valley Community Care. Seven residents of the facility have died and 22 more remain in isolation with the virus. There have been ten staff also test positive for the virus, though not all of them live in the region and so not all are included in the total case count for Bradford. There are now 14 recoveries reported in Bradford and three people are hospitalized.

In Midland, the health unit has reported five cases and four of those have recovered.

In Penetanguishene, there have been two cases confirmed and one has recovered.

Orillia has had 10 cases confirmed, two people have died and the remaining eight have recovered.

There have been five cases confirmed in Oro-Medonte, of those, one has recovered, one person has died, and two people are hospitalized.


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Erika Engel

About the Author: Erika Engel

Erika regularly covers all things news in Collingwood as a reporter and editor. She has 15 years of experience as a local journalist
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