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A staff member working at the Pines Long-Term Care Home tested positive for COVID-19 on January 20, 2021 following routine COVID-19 testing conducted on January 18, 2021. The staff member is asymptomatic and was immediately sent home to isolate. An additional staff member who was in close contact with the COVID-19 positive employee has been swabbed and has also been sent home to isolate as an additional precaution.
The home area where the staff member was working has been placed in outbreak status by the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit. The outbreak does not extend to the entire building. This case is not related to the outbreak that commenced on January 5, 2021 and was resolved on January 19, 2021.
Routine, weekly testing of all staff continues as per the provincial guidelines. The District of Muskoka and SMDHU are working closely to monitor and respond to the situation.
Status of Vaccinations and Testing:
- On Saturday, January 16th, all consenting residents, and essential caregivers received their first dose of the COVID-19 Pfizer BioNTech vaccination.
- 137 out of 145 residents (94%) and 60 essential caregivers received their first dose of the vaccine. The second dose administration date has not yet been scheduled.
- 160 out of 210 employees have either received their first vaccine or have completed the two-part series in the vaccination process.
- Scheduled weekly testing of all staff will continue to support early detection of any spread of the COVID-19 virus in the home.
Timeline of COVID-19 Related Events at the Pines:
- The Pines experienced an initial outbreak of COVID-19 after one employee tested positive on August 30, 2020. Following the initial positive case, one resident tested positive for COVID-19 on September 2, 2020.
- The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) determined that the first outbreak was resolved on September 16, 2020.
- Additional staff members tested positive on September 19 & 25, 2020.
- The outbreak status was lifted on October 8, 2020 following 14 days with no additional positive cases.
- On November 13, 2020 a staff member tested positive with no additional positive cases. Due to the nature of this case, the home was not declared in outbreak at this time.
- One staff member tested positive on January 5, 2021 with no additional staff or resident cases identified. As a result, one Pines home area was declared in outbreak on January 5, 2021 and this outbreak was resolved by SMDHU on January 19, 2021.
- A staff member tested positive on January 20, 2021. The positive staff member and one additional close-contact employee are currently isolating at home and are being monitored by SMDHU.
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