Sault-area nursing homes involved in COVID-19 study
A group of researchers are working on a means of detecting COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care homes - days before they occur.
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine involved 10 long-term care facilities in Ontario - two of which are in Sault Ste. Marie.
The FJ Davey Home and the Finnish Rest Home served as test sites for the study, which involved swabbing the floors of high-traffic areas, including hallways, eating areas and staff locker rooms.
“We’d swab the same location every week, (and) we made sure we were comparing the same areas over time,” said Mike Fralick, the lead study author and a clinician scientist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.
“Essentially in doing so, we could then monitor and determine how the amount of virus changes from week to week and how that correlates with an outbreak.”
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
Fralick likens the search for evidence of COVID-19 to a crime scene investigation.
“Sort of like of ‘CSI,’ and trying to pin the crime on whoever ‘dunnit,’ you could find their fingerprints, or you could find a person’s DNA,” said Fralick.
“It’s a very similar principle, but instead, we’re finding the genetic material for the virus, because, we know its genetic makeup, we know what its fingerprint looks like.”
Fralick says the study was conducted from September 2021 to November 2022 and the next step is implementing the study’s findings. A pilot project to that effect is in the works.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada were in St. John's, N.L., Wednesday after a plane overshot the main runway at the city's airport.