Four staff at Hamilton General test positive

Outbreaks declared at two more Norfolk retirement homes

Four staff members at Hamilton General Hospital’s COVID-19 in-patient unit have tested positive for novel coronavirus.

Hamilton Health Sciences declared the outbreak late on Saturday after the four employees tested positive starting on Friday.

The four employees work in Unit 8 West, where all patients were confirmed to have COVID-19. The unit remains open.

“Other health care workers who met exposure criteria have been notified and are being tested,” Hamilton Health Sciences said in a media release. “Additionally, the unit is being thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, above already enhanced cleaning practices. All steps are being taken to ensure that patient care continues to be provided safely.”

Hamilton registered 32 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend, which pushed the total up from 606 on Friday to 638 by Sunday afternoon.

The city saw two more deaths — for a total of 32 — and five more patients recover.

To date, 66 per cent of COVID-positive Hamiltonians — 420 people — have beaten the disease.

Saturday’s warm weather saw bylaw officers out in force, including in the area of Albion Falls, which is still closed to the public but attracted dozens of cars to nearby parking areas that also remain off-limits.

Halton’s total COVID-19 caseload increased by six over the weekend, from 606 on Friday to 612 as of Sunday. The number of

COVID-related deaths in the region is unchanged at 25, while 514 people have recovered, an increase of nine since Friday.

Looking across the province, COVID-19 cases topped the 25,000 mark over the weekend as 872 new cases were reported in Ontario between Thursday and Saturday, after daily increases of 1.7 and 1.8 per cent, respectively.

Total confirmed cases in the province stood at 25,500 as of Saturday morning.

Fifty-two Ontarians died of the disease between Thursday and Saturday, bringing the total to 2,073, or 8.1 per cent of total cases.

By Saturday, 19,477 residents — 76.4 per cent of all patients — had recovered.

After more than a week without any positive tests on Six Nations of the Grand River, one resident of the territory tested positive Thursday. That brought the total COVID-19 tally on Six Nations to 12. One resident died on April 9 and the other 10 have recovered.

In Haldimand-Norfolk, the novel coronavirus continues to move through seniors’ homes.

The local health unit announced on Friday that two staff members at Norview Lodge and one at Cedarwood Village — both retirement homes in Simcoe — have tested positive for COVID-19 and are in self-isolation.

No residents at either facility had tested positive as of Saturday morning.

This is the second brush with the virus for Norview, where a non-clinical staff member tested positive in early April. That outbreak was declared over after the staff member recovered.

More than half of HaldimandNorfolk’s 209 confirmed COVID-19

cases stem from longterm care or retirement homes. The outbreak at Anson Place Care Centre in Hagersville accounts for at least 102 cases between residents and staff and 27 of the 31 deaths in the two counties that have been officially linked to the virus.

At present, 22 Anson Place residents have tested positive, and some previously infected staff members are back at work after registering two consecutive negative tests.

There are active outbreaks at four other retirement homes in the two counties.

As of Sunday, 93 residents of Haldimand-Norfolk had recovered, with 85 cases still unresolved.

J.P. Antonacci’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows him to report on stories about the regions of Haldimand and Norfolk.