COVID-19 outbreak at Caledonia retirement home declared over
A COVID-19 outbreak at a Caledonia retirement home that infected nine residents and one staff member has ended.
The Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit declared the outbreak at RVilla Caledonia Retirement Living over on Sunday, saying everyone who contracted COVID-19 has recovered and is out of self-isolation.
The outbreak started earlier this month when five of the home's 39 residents tested positive after showing potential COVID-19 symptoms.
Four more residents and an employee tested positive several days later.
Two of the infected residents ended up in hospital for treatment, while the rest reportedly had mild symptoms.
The infected residents were all fully vaccinated, according to the health unit, meaning these were breakthrough cases of COVID-19.
Epidemiologist Dr. Kate Bishop-Williams said Monday the health unit has not determined how the virus got into RVilla.
It's unclear how the outbreak began. We don't know what the source of infection was for that first individual who became symptomatic and then tested positive," she said.
But after several rounds of testing and close monitoring of staff and residents over the past two weeks, the health unit is confident in saying the outbreak is now over.
We're not seeing new cases. We're not seeing individuals who are becoming newly symptomatic," Bishop-Williams said.
Norfolk EMS Chief Sarah Page, who leads Haldimand-Norfolk's vaccine rollout, said third-dose vaccination of residents at local long-term-care and retirement homes would be completed this week.
There were 26 active cases of COVID-19 in Haldimand-Norfolk on Monday.
Since the pandemic began, 2,910 residents have tested positive and 48 have died as a result of the virus.
In addition, seven people who had COVID-19 were deemed to have died of other causes, with the latest fatality in that category announced Friday.
The deceased had been living in a congregate setting and contracted COVID-19 prior to being hospitalized.
The health unit did not provide the cause of death or any further information, citing privacy concerns.
J.P. Antonacci's reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows him to report on stories about the regions of Haldimand and Norfolk.