A new COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at Riverview Gardens in Chatham.
Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit officials declared the outbreak on Wednesday, December 23, 2020.
“Riverview Gardens has had an employee test positive for COVID-19,” officials with the municipally-owned long-term home posted on social media.
“This employee and any close contacts are self isolating. 3 East has been declared in outbreak by CK Public Health.”
Riverview Gardens officials say the current visiting rules for 3 East only are as follows:
– General visitors are not allowed on 3 East during the outbreak.
– One Caregiver at a time can visit a resident. The Yellow Caregiver button must be worn while on site.
– The Caregiver will wear full PPE on the unit, provided by the home.
“While general visiting is allowed on other units for right now, we do request people refrain from visiting if at all possible,” Riverview gardens officials say.
“We have no residents with COVID-19 at this time.”
Riverview Gardens officials say they have not received official word on what the province-wide lockdown on December 26 means for them.
However, Advantage Ontario, Riverview Gardens Long Term Care Association, released the following message.
“We have received confirmation from the Ministry that when the province-wide shutdown is implemented on December 26, LTC homes in all parts of the province will need to meet the requirements and restrictions currently required of homes in Grey-Lockdown zones,” Advantage Ontario officials say.
“This includes the following: weekly staff, student and volunteer testing; visitor restrictions of one essential caregiver per resident at a time and no general visitors permitted; essential visitors will be required to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test result in the past week and verbally attest to not subsequently testing positive; and resident absences will not be permitted except for medical or compassionate reasons. Ministry guidelines are coming, and we will share them with you as soon as possible.”
Riverview Gardens officials added: “At this time, we are planning to go into Grey-Lockdown restrictions, as noted above, on December 26th. We will share more information as we have it.”
The first outbreak at Riverview Gardens was declared on December 1, 2020 and ended on December 19, 2020, public health officials say.
