A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at Fairfield Park in Wallaceburg.
Meanwhile, the active case count in Chatham-Kent has risen to 41
Outbreak at Fairfield Park
The outbreak at Fairfield Park in Wallaceburg was declared on Thursday, December 17, 2020.
Tracey Maxim, administrator at the long term care home, said in a notice to residents and families posted on the Fairfield Park website, that one staff member has tested positive for COVID-19.
“As you may have heard, a case of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) has been identified in one staff member of our home,” Maxim said.
“Rest assured that we have taken swift action to halt the spread of the virus through vigorous infection management practices and procedures. We are working in close partnership with our public health unit to ensure every possible step is taken to protect our residents. The health and safety of our residents, and the team members who serve them, is our highest priority.”
Maxim said Fairfield Park is experienced in managing respiratory illnesses.
“The staff member who tested positive has had very minimal close contact with residents and other team members,” Maxim said.
“As a precaution, we have isolated residents residing on our Green Wing and have assigned dedicated staff to this area of the home. We know isolation can be very hard on our residents and we are focused on providing them with the best possible care during this difficult time. Our staff are going above and beyond to ensure our residents’ well-being.”
Maxim added: “We thank-you for your understanding during this time and assure you that we are continuing to make decisions in the best interest of our residents and team members to ensure health and safety, first and foremost.”
Maxim said “until further notice” they are cancelling all outside visitors to the home and residents will be restricted from non-essential absences.
Maxim said if anyone has questions they can call 519-627-1663.
Fairfield Park is a fully licensed and inspected 103 bed long term care home for seniors located at 1934 Dufferin Avenue.
This is the second outbreak in a long term care facility in Chatham-Kent since the pandemic began.
An outbreak, which was declared at Riverview Gardens on Tuesday, December 1, 2020, also remains active.
Current status in Chatham-Kent
The Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit updated their ‘current situation’ page, which provides a summary of COVID-19 cases and testing in Chatham-Kent, on Friday, December 18, 2020.
Along with the two active outbreaks at Riverview Gardens and Fairfield Park, there is also an active workplace outbreak, which is not open to the public, CK Public Health health officials say.
The total number of cases has increased to 576.
23 of the active cases are linked to close contact, nine are unknown, six are linked to the workplace outbreak in Chatham-Kent, one case has information pending, one case is linked to an institutional outbreak and one is linked to a workplace outbreak outside of Chatham-Kent.
CK Public Health officials say one person from Chatham-Kent is currently hospitalized with COVID-19.
To date, 532 people have recovered from the virus in Chatham-Kent, while three people have died.
A total of 50,703 tests for the virus have been completed to date.
The Municipality of Chatham-Kent remains in the ‘Yellow-Protect’ tier of the Province of Ontario’s Keeping Ontario Safe and Open Framework, Provincial officials announced on Friday, December 18, 2020.
Public health officials are encouraging people to continue following these public health measures:
More details about the ‘Yellow-Protect’ tier can be found, here.
To view the full ‘current situation’ page from CK Public Health, click here.
For more information about COVID-19, residents are asked to visit
http://www.ckpublichealth.com/covid19Â or call the CK Public Health COVID-19 intake line at 519-355-1071 ex. 1900.
