TWO MORE DEATHS AT PR RESIDENCE, TOTAL REACHES FIVE
Four people died due to COVID-19 at the Prescott and Russell Residence on the weekend, bringing the total to five since an outbreak began two weeks ago.
Two more deaths were reported at the residence on Monday afternoon, while two had been confirmed on Saturday. No new resident cases were recorded over the weekend, but two more staff members tested positive, bringing the total since the outbreak began to 112. Twenty-seven of the 68 resident cases had been resolved, as had 16 of the 44 staff infections.
“It’s terrible,” Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) Medical Officer of Health Dr. Paul Roumeliotis said of the deaths. “It’s the same as we had in Plantagenet [Pinecrest nursing home] as well; once it gets in, it’s just terrible.”
All outstanding test results at the residence had been returned. More testing will be conducted at the residence later this week. Dr. Roumeliotis said Red Cross personnel and paramedics had helped fill a staffing shortage due to the outbreak over the weekend. The residence was using a three-to-four-day outlook to determine staffing needs.
The EOHU area reported 28 new COVID cases over the weekend, 20 of which were in Prescott-Russell. The new cases brought the total since the pandemic began to 550 in the EOHU catchment area, which includes Prescott-Russell, Cornwall, and Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.
Dr. Roumeliotis said most of the new cases outside long-term care outbreaks had been linked, which had made it easier to trace and isolate patients. “That’s a very good indicator for our area, knowing exactly where they are,” he said. “I’d be more worried if we had no epi-link and we saw that large, unexplained presence of the virus.”
Elsewhere in the region, one case was reported at Centre éducatif Les Petits Tresors in Alfred. Twenty-one COVID cases were confirmed in EOHU schools, but only one institutions - École élémentaire catholique
Embrun: Pavillon Saint-Jean – was reported as an outbreak, with more than one case.
The number of active cases in PrescottRussell was 182 as of Monday afternoon, with 400 cases in total since the pandemic began. The local cases comprised 98 in Hawkesbury; 26 in Clarence-Rockland; 19 in Alfred & Plantagenet; 14 in Russell; 12 in Champlain; 9 in The Nation; 3 in Casselman, and 1 in East Hawkesbury.
Seven people remained hospitalized across the EOHU area, while two were in intensive care. Some 72,404 tests had been conducted since the pandemic began.