COVID-19 outbreak declared at North Bay area long-term care home

Au Chateau Home for the Aged in Sturgeon Falls (Supplied)

Sudbury -

A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at a long-term care home in Sturgeon Falls after two people connected to the facility tested positive, health officials said late Monday afternoon.

Section A of Au Chateau Home for the Aged is affected by the outbreak and additional prevention and control measures have been put in place throughout the facility.

Testing of all residents and staff is currently underway and Section A is closed to visitors.

"Our staff are working collaboratively with Au Château staff to manage the outbreak," said Dr. Jim Chirico, the North Bay Parry Sound medical officer of health. "It is critical that everyone continues to follow public health measures including full vaccination against COVID-19, washing hands often and staying home if unwell, even if fully vaccinated, to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and save lives. Being fully vaccinated is the best protection we have against COVID-19."

This is the second active COVID-19 outbreak in the North Bay area. The outbreak at Chartwell Barclay House Retirement Residence, which began on Nov. 3, has reached 43 cases.

As of Monday at 3 p.m., there are 26 active COVIDf-19 infections in the North Bay and Parry Sound areas and two people are hospitalized in Nipissing due to the disease.

Breakthrough infections are occurring with 27.7 of the new cases since June 1 involving fully vaccinated people while the unvaccinated and partially-vaccinated make up 72.3 per cent of the cases. Fully vaccinated individuals can still be infected and spread the disease, but officials say the symptoms are less severe and the need for hospitalization is greatly reduced.

More than 83 per cent of residents in the Nipissing and Parry Sound districts that are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine are fully vaccinated.

Since the pandemic began, there have been 875 infections confirmed, 841 cases have been resolved and eight people have died due to COVID-19 in the area.

Ontario's Ministry of Health released recommendations for a third COVID-19 vaccine dose on Nov. 12 saying "for certain populations, an additional dose may be needed to obtain more durable protection."

"Evidence is emerging that vaccine effectiveness against asymptomatic infection and mild COVID-19 disease may decrease with time and that currently authorized COVID-19 vaccines may be less effective against the Delta variant which could contribute to increased transmission of infection," the ministry said.

It is recommended that residents of long-term care homes, retirement homes, seniors in a congregate living situation, adults ages 70 and older, and all eligible immunocompromised individuals get a third or booster dose.