THUNDER BAY — The Thunder Bay District Health Unit has met the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care's deadline for testing all nursing home residents and staff for COVID-19.
The province last month directed Ontario public health units to complete the surveillance testing by May 15.
The TBDHU complied with the order, but as of Tuesday not all test results had been received for long-term care homes in the city and district.
Provincial guidelines require an outbreak of COVID-19 to be declared when one resident or employee at any long-term care home tests positive.
To date there has only been one reported case of COVID-19 in an area nursing home, involving a staff member at Hogarth Riverview Manor.
An outbreak was declared after a frontline worker tested positive on May 2.
Residents on the fourth floor, where the staff member worked, were isolated for 14 days.
The outbreak was declared over last Friday.
Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre reported Tuesday that it currently has only two patients presumed to have COVID-19, with their test results pending.
Across the city and district, there have been 79 confirmed cases to date, with one fatality. Seventy-six cases have been resolved.
So far, statistics indicate that the Thunder Bay district's community infection rate is not nearly as widespread as other parts of Ontario.
The TBDHU says its testing rate is 5,431 per 100,000 people, considerably higher than the provincial testing rate of 3,779 per 100,000.
Yet the incidence of COVID-19 is much lower here – 1.0 per cent compared with 4.1 per cent in Ontario as a whole.
