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
BREAKING Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Loblaw leaders push back on 'misguided criticism' of grocer as boycott begins
Loblaw's new chief executive, as well as chairman Galen Weston, pushed back on what they called 'misguided criticism' of the grocer as a push to boycott the company gains steam online.
TD Bank hit with $9.2M penalty after failing to report suspicious transactions
Canada's financial intelligence agency says it has levied a $9.2-million penalty against The Toronto-Dominion Bank for non-compliance with money laundering and terrorist financing measures as the bank also faces compliance investigations in the U.S.
Orangutan observed treating wound using medicinal plant in world first
Scientists working in Indonesia have observed an orangutan intentionally treating a wound on their face with a medicinal plant, the first time this behavior has been documented.
This Canadian restaurant just lowered its prices. Here's how it did it
A Canadian restaurant lowered its prices this week, and though news of price tags dropping rather than climbing sounds unusual, the business strategy in this case is not, according to experts in the field.
Prince William and Kate release photo of daughter Charlotte to mark ninth birthday
Prince William and his wife Kate released a picture of their daughter Charlotte to mark the princess's ninth birthday on Thursday.
Doctors concerned about potential spread of bird flu in Canada
H5N1 or avian flu has been detected at dozens of U.S. dairy farms and Canadian experts are urging surveillance on our side of the border too.
There's a limit to how much interest rates in Canada and U.S. can diverge: Macklem
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says Canadian interest rates don't have to match U.S. or global rates, but there is a limit to how much they can diverge.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.