COVID-19 in Hamilton: Cases reported at Fortinos, McMaster University and east-end police station
Cases of COVID-19 have been found at McMaster University, a Hamilton Mountain grocery store and the east-end police station.
In a release Thursday, McMaster said the university had been notified of two unrelated" cases of the virus on campus.
According to the university, one is a student who was last on campus on Jan. 19 in the Arthur Bourns Building, while the other involves an international student who was already quarantining, as per government guidelines. Both students tested positive on Jan. 21.
All impacted areas" have been cleaned and Hamilton public health is managing contact tracing.
When a person notifies McMaster they are awaiting test results and spent time on campus, all areas the person visited within the last 72 hours are cleaned. If the test comes back positive, the university does additional cleaning.
According to McMaster, they notify the university community any time they are informed" of a case involving an individual who has spent any time on campus even if just for a few minutes."
In a tweet Friday, Hamilton police said two of their officers working out of the city's east-end station had tested positive.
Both officers were last on duty on Jan. 20 and all close contacts" have been notified.
A staff member at the Mall Road Fortinos has tested positive for COVID-19, according to the store's parent company.
Loblaw was notified Thursday that a worker at the grocery store at 65 Mall Rd. on the Hamilton Mountain had tested positive on a presumptive test for COVID-19," according to a listing on their online case tracker.
The employee's last shift was on Jan. 18.
According to Loblaw, when a worker tests positive they work closely with public health and follow their guidance to ensure proper notification of close contacts and required cleaning and sanitization in our stores."
It's unclear if any other staff members were affected by the case or if any were recommended to self-isolate as a precaution. The database does not specify which part of the store the employee worked in.
Fallon Hewitt is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: fhewitt@thespec.com