A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at an Iroquois Falls long-term care home.
The Porcupine Health Unit says a woman in her 90s has tested positive for the virus at South Centennial Manor. All residents and staff at the facility were tested May 4 as part of the mandated testing for staff and residents at Ontario long-term care homes.
It is the 64th confirmed COVID-19 case in the health unit region. Of those, 48 cases are resolved, and five people have died.
To date, the health unit is aware of 2,729 COVID-19 tests being done, which is an increase of 140 from the last report. There are 277 tests under investigation.
The health unit's testing numbers do not include the surveillance at the long-term care homes. The PHU says eight of the 10 homes in the district have been tested. That includes 502 residents and 501 employees. In addition to that, 25 employees at three of the six emergency child care centres have been tested.
The Ministry of Health requires an outbreak to be declared when one positive case is confirmed in a resident or staff member.
The Iroquois Falls outbreak is the second to be declared since the testing at the Porcupine Health Unit's 10 homes began over the weekend.
An outbreak at the Golden Manor in Timmins was announced May 5 after a resident who had no symptoms tested positive. All other tests from that facility have come back and are negative.
The fifth virus-related death in the region was reported yesterday. It is the second death related to the outbreak at Timmins and District Hospital.
There are now five institutional outbreaks in the health unit's region. The others are at Spruce Hill Lodge in South Porcupine, and St. Mary's Gardens in Timmins.
For the local cases, 40 have been in Timmins. Of those, 27 cases are resolved and four people have died. There have been 23 cases in the area of Cochrane, Matheson, Iroquois Falls, and Smooth Rock Falls. Of those, 20 are resolved and one person has died. There has been one case in the area of Kapuskasing, Opasatika, Val Rita-Harty, Moonbeam, and Fauquier-Strickland and it is resolved.
There are COVID-19 Assessment centres in Timmins, Cochrane, Iroquois Falls, Kapuskasing, Smooth Rock Falls, Hearst and Hornepayne. They are by appointment only and you must be referred by your primary healthcare provider or the health unit.
The PHU COVID-19 hotline is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It can be reached at 705-267-1181 or 1-800-461-1818.
The health unit is doing expanded testing on people with milder symptoms for a limited time.
The expanded list of symptoms includes cough, fever, and difficulty breathing as well as sore throat/hoarse voice, difficulty swallowing, loss of smell or taste, fatigue, muscle aches, runny nose, loss of appetite, diarrhea, and nausea or vomiting.
