Public health to check test results at care homes
Circumstances raise doubt over how residents could have been infected
Niagara’s public health department is investigating whether a recent wave of COVID-19 tests that triggered outbreak declarations in several long-term care homes, were actually false positives for the potentially deadly virus.
Dr. Mustafa Hirji, Niagara’s acting medical officer of health, said the circumstances of those who tested positive at the homes, including Tufford Manor in St. Catharines, Kilean Lodge in Grimsby and West Park Health Centre in St. Catharines, raise questions about how they could have contracted the virus.
“So these are people who aren’t sick, they are not showing any symptoms. They have been locked in their homes, no visitors, and no staff have tested positive,” Hirji said. “There have also been no other cases, or anyone else showing symptoms. So how did the virus get into those facilities?”
The tests were part of some 6,000 COVID-19 tests of longterm care residents in Niagara conducted over a two-week period — a result of the provincial government’s initiative to test all residents, since long-term care homes were hardest hit.
In Niagara, nearly 28 per cent of all COVID-19 cases, and 81 per cent of pandemic-related deaths, involve long-term care residents.
Hirji said the suspected false positives were all processed by the same lab. While he does not believe there is an issue at the lab, the results needed to be checked. He said true asymptomatic cases are rare, and to have that many from a single round of testing warrants a second look.
“In most of those cases that are thought to be asymptomatic, we find that in fact they did have very mild symptoms, even for just a few days,” he said. “No test is perfect, and when you test 6,000 people like that you are going to end up with false positives and false negatives.”
However, Hirji said, until it can be determined the results are in error the outbreak status of those homes will remain in place.
It is better to assume the tests are correct until shown otherwise, he said, than risk lifting the outbreak and allowing the virus to spread among a vulnerable population.
Until recently, three longterm care homes — Seasons and Royal Rose in Welland, and Lundy Manor in Niagara Falls — were Niagara's COVID-19 hotspots.
The Seasons outbreak was recently declared over. The Lundy Manor outbreak is still active and the number of cases is currently unknown. The home is being sued by some families of residents and has decided not to publicly discuss the situation. To date, at least 18 residents with COVID-19 have died.
Royal Rose reported its 18th death Monday and has renewed a lockdown in one wing after a new case was discovered. Seventy-one residents and 48 staff have been infected. All but one staff member has returned to work, and five residents are still sick.