THUNDER BAY – A COVID-19 outbreak announced in one unit of a Thunder Bay long-term care home earlier this week has now spread facility wide, with at least three residents testing positive at Southbridge Roseview Manor, on Shuniah Street.
The Thunder Bay District Health Unit made the announcement along with Southbridge Care Homes in a release issued Saturday evening.
The health unit had declared an outbreak at the home’s Heritage Unit on Wednesday, after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.
The agency credited enhanced testing implemented since that declaration with identifying three more cases among residents.
Testing of all residents at the home was completed Saturday, the health unit said, while testing for all staff will be completed Saturday and Sunday as part of an ongoing investigation into the outbreak.
The agency did not specify whether all the results of residents’ tests had yet been processed. It also did not say whether the three residents who tested positive were among the 11 new cases announced earlier on Saturday.
The home has 157 residents, according to its website.
In its release Saturday, the health unit also pointed to measures already in place at the home before the outbreak.
“Surveillance swabbing of all staff occurs on a bi-weekly schedule in an effort to identify and contain any exposure as quickly as possible,” it said. “Residents are also assessed twice daily, and staff are assessed three times daily, for symptoms, which leads to the early identification of anyone who could have COVID-19.”
