Overwhelming support after ‘heartbreaking ’ outbreak
14 people at Community Living group home had tested positive for virus
A COVID-19 outbreak at the Community Living group home on Romaine Street has totalled 14 cases — half of which were resolved by Tuesday, according to the executive director.
Teresa Jordan is the executive director of Community Living Trent Highlands, which operates 16 group homes for adults with developmental disabilities (one in Peterborough on Romaine Street, four in Lindsay and two in Haliburton).
A COVID-19 outbreak was declared in the home on Romaine Street on Dec. 23 and Jordan expects that it won’t be declared over until Jan. 15 at the earliest.
Two residents and five staff members — seven people, from a total of 14 cases — had recovered as of Tuesday, she said.
It’s the first outbreak in any of the homes she oversees — and that although she was wellversed in how coronavirus spreads and behaves, having an outbreak was an eye-opener, she said.
“I thought I was a COVID expert — but there’s nothing like dealing with it,” Jordan said.
Meanwhile, Peterborough This Week reported on Tuesday that Jordan said some “questionable” face masks had been removed from the home — masks that had not been approved for use to protect against COVID -19 by public health officials.
A tipster told This Week that they worked at the home and that some of their personal protective equipment was expired.
But Jordan told This Week reporter Taylor Clysdale that she didn’t think the PPE was “directly linked” to the outbreak and that a variety of factors might have precipitated the spread of infection in the home.
Peterborough Public Health also told This Week that there isn’t any evidence showing expired PPE was to blame for any of the cases.
Jordan is expected at the health unit’s virtual weekly pandemic press briefing on Wednesday.
She told The Examiner on Tuesday that although the
spread of infection was “heartbreaking,” she witnessed a “coming together” of people once it became publicly known that the home had an outbreak of COVID-19.
“Instantly, people were porchdropping food, crafts, coffee and doughnuts — to the point where we had too much food,” she said, adding that staff who don’t ordinarily work at that home volunteered to work there while it’s under outbreak.
Another outbreak at Riverview Manor that was declared on Dec. 23 continued on Tuesday, the health unit reported. This Week reported that it involved a single case (staff there could not be reached for comment by The Examiner).
Fairhaven long-term-care residence also had two outbreaks late last year, with three deaths in the first, but executive director Lionel Towns said Tuesday the home was no longer under an outbreak.
Sullivan’s Pharmacy doing curbside pickup after employee tests positive
Sullivan’s IDA Pharmacy on Hunter Street East is open only for curbside pickup this week after an employee tested positive, says the owner.
Pharmacist/owner Jason Hinton said on Tuesday the store will likely reopen for walk-in customers on Jan. 12 at the earliest. In the meantime people can arrange for medication renewal, delivery or curbside pickup by calling the pharmacy at 705-742-3469.
In a letter to customers, Hinton says he learned on Jan. 1 that an employee had tested positive.
The employee is in quarantine, he wrote, after working a last shift on Dec. 29.
Hinton notified Peterborough Public Health as well as all employees who’d worked in close contact with their ill co-worker; everyone has taken appropriate steps to self-isolate, he says.