Confirmed COVID-19 case count falls after lab errors
Two employees at Walmart on Chemong Road test positive
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Peterborough city and county and Curve Lake and Hiawartha First Nations fell to 69 after lab errors on tests conducted last week, the Peterborough Public Health reported late Monday afternoon.
The 69 cases are down from 84 that had been reported as of Sunday and 87 as of Friday.
Outbreaks have also been resolved at Empress Gardens Retirement Residence and the St. John’s Seniors Centre, but outbreaks remain at St. Joseph’s at Fleming, Extendicare Lakefield and the
Peterborough Retirement Residence.
On Friday, the health unit revealed that 22 positive COVID-19 tests from Peterborough, along with 13 from the City of Kawartha Lakes, were being rejected because of a technical error discovered at the BioTest Laboratories in Ottawa.
Those patients were retested by another lab. One of the patients who had an erroneous positive test later died at Hospice Peterborough. That death was not considered related to COVID-19 so the health unit’s death toll now stands at two.
Meanwhile, two employees at Walmart Supercentre on Chemong Road have tested positive for COVID-19. Walmart officials say both employees last worked on April 21, reported Peterborough This Week on Monday, and co-workers who were in close contact have been directed to self-isolate.
The cases weren’t revealed to the public by the store; an anonymous employee, who feared losing his job if he identified himself, spoke to a reporter about the cases and said some employees walked off the job on Saturday and on Monday because they don’t feel safe working in the store.
The employee said that “people need to know” about the two cases so they can decide whether to shop at Walmart.
“I am assuming some people would not come here if they knew there was positive cases,” the employee told Peterborough This Week.
Adam Grachnik, director of corporate affairs for Walmart Canada, wrote in an email that Peterborough Public Health was told about the cases.
“We are in contact with the associates and are keeping them in our thoughts,” wrote Grachnik in an email statement to Peterborough This Week. “Everyone at Walmart wishes them a speedy recovery.”
Grachnik added that Walmart has regular enhanced cleaning in the store and has other social distancing measures in place.
But that wasn’t good enough for one shopper who bought groceries at the store on Saturday and then found out on Monday about the two cases.
Stephanie Whibbs says she knows the employees hadn’t worked for 10 days prior to her shopping trip Saturday, but she’s asthmatic and wouldn’t have gone to Walmart if she’d known.
“I would never have set foot in there — never,” she told The Examiner.
It was the first time Whibbs left her home in two months; she’d stocked up on food, but needed to get groceries on Saturday.
She said Monday she’s upset the COVID-19 diagnoses were kept from shoppers like her.
“Why hide it?” she asked. “That’s my big question: why hide this from the public?”
Medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra wrote in an email to The Examiner on Monday that the health unit investigates every case of COVID-19.
If a person was working at a time when they were infectious, she wrote, the health unit follows up with co-workers who might have had close contact with the person.
If the health unit thinks there’s a danger to the public, she added, they issue an alert. Otherwise it’s up to the employer to make the call on whether to let the public know.
Meanwhile, the health unit has been advising people “for several weeks now” that there are cases of community transmission happening, she said.
Salvaterra wrote that this case involving Walmart “serves as a strong reminder … that the virus is on the move” and that people need to stay home whenever possible.
“Hopefully vulnerable members of the public are self-isolating at home and not shopping,” she wrote, adding that they should be asking family and friends to help them shop, or use delivery services.
Shoppers are wise to take precautions when they’re out, she wrote — one piece of advice from PPH is to wash your hands frequently.
“But the COVID-19 virus is circulating in our community so they (shoppers) should assume they will be exposed at the grocery store,” Salvaterra wrote.
Trent emergency funding
Trent University announced Monday it is providing $675,000 in emergency funding to help more than 1,200 students who are experiencing financial hardship in the pandemic.
Funding was already budgeted to help students through financial aid, the School of Graduate Studies and Trent International; additional money was donated from alumni, staff and faculty through a campaign called #TrentUCares.
Money has already been disbursed to students in need, states the release and more will be offered in the summer term.
Face mask fundraiser
Jane Reid, a member of the Peterborough Curling Club, is offering her hand-sewn cloth face masks for $10 with proceeds going to Kawartha Food Share.
Reid and other members of the curling club have together made and donated more than 3,000 masks in the pandemic. Peterborough Regional Health Centre got about 1,000, she said, and they’ve also donated to long-term care homes. On Monday Reid put a wide array of masks she made on a rack on her porch on Dobbin Road and is offering them for $10 each, with all proceeds going to Kawartha Food Share.
Reid aims to raise $10,000 for Kawartha Food Share. On Monday she had 500 masks on offer and she was still sewing to meet her goal.
Anyone who’d like to donate $10 in exchange for a mask to call or text her at 705-931-0115.