Cassellholme Home for the Aged is working on getting to the bottom of why a handful of staff and essential caregivers tested positive for COVID-19.
Jamie Lowery, CEO of the nursing home says he’s been in constant contact with the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit and other public health players.
“We were talking with them as late as 11 o’clock at night sometimes,” he said.
The Health Unit declared an outbreak at the nursing home on the weekend after 13 people tested positive for the virus.
The agency provided an update three days later saying at least one person had a preliminary positive result for a variant of concern, but others had retested negative.
An update from Cassellholme on February 23 stated two staff and nine essential caregivers had since retested negative for the virus.
“It’s a sigh of relief for the people who had those results,” said Lowery. “It’s very difficult for people to have that test hanging over their head.”
Lowery says Cassellholme is working with the North Bay Regional Health Centre and the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit to find out what led to the initial positive results.
“Our concern is always with the residents and staff so we’re very pleased with the progress to date,” Lowery said.
In an effort to prevent this from happening again, Lowery says in-house swabs will now undergo two-gene testing, which is more accurate in identifying COVID-19 than the standard PCR testing.
This is already underway as every resident was slated to be retested on Thursday.
Dr. Jim Chirico, medical officer of health says people who test positive for the virus but then retest negative will not count toward the region’s total caseload.
Residents at Cassellholme have already received their first shot of COVID-19 vaccines, but Lowery says he’s still glad swift action was taken.
“The worst thing you can do is let your guard down,” he noted. “The result could have been far worse.”
Lowery says residents should expect their second dose of the vaccine next week.
Written by Greg Bowman