CK Public Health officials say a total of 23 COVID-19 cases are now linked to the institutional outbreak at Fairfield Park in Wallaceburg.
Public health officials released the updated total on their ‘current situation’ page of their website on Wednesday, January 27, 2021.
Jeff Moco, a spokesperson for CK Public Health, told the Sydenham Current some details about how the outbreak started at the 1934 Dufferin Avenue long-term care home in Wallaceburg
“Although the number of people permitted to enter long-term care homes has been limited since the beginning of the pandemic, staff and essential caregivers still move in and out of all long-term care homes on a daily basis,” Moco said on Tuesday.
“This movement does pose a risk of COVID-19 being brought into long-term care homes. Although Fairfield Park conducts diligent active screening of everyone who enters, cases are often infectious prior to symptom onset, so the virus can unknowingly be transmitted by those who enter the home and we’ve been able to track cases back to staff.”
Moco said CK Public Health is not providing a detailed break down of staff versus resident cases.
“To protect the identity of the cases, we are not able to break case counts down any further but will defer to the facility, which has been providing further updates on those specifics,” Moco said.
Before the numbers were updated on Wednesday by Public Health, Fairfield Park officials had confirmed that 13 residents from Fairfield Park were diagnosed with COVID-19, along with four staff.
These are the first confirmed cases in long-term care home residents in Chatham-Kent since the pandemic began.
Fairfield Park has not provided a new update as of Wednesday morning.
Since the outbreak was declared on January 10, 2021, CK Public Health has been working very closely with facility administration at Fairfield on management and control of the outbreak, Moco added.
“Other community care partners, particularly CKHA and EMS, have worked with us to provide support to the facility,” he said.
“Ongoing outbreak control measures include the following: isolation of residents to their rooms, cohorting of staff and residents, enhanced cleaning and disinfecting practices, strategic testing of all staff and residents at appropriate intervals, diligent PPE usage by all staff and essential caregivers, cancellation of unnecessary activities throughout the building, and physical distancing, in order to mitigate further transmission.”
Moco added: “Protecting the health and well-being of residents and staff continues to be a top priority for CK Public Health and Fairfield Park.”
We’ll provide more details when they become available.
