Vision Nursing Home, Sarnia.
Lambton Public Health is reporting another death connected to an outbreak of COVID-19 at a Sarnia long-term care home.
In its daily online report Saturday evening, the public health agency said the number of deaths connected to the outbreak that began April 23 at Vision Nursing Home increased one to a total of 10.
The number of staff at the home who have tested positive for COVID-19 also increased by one to 26. The number of residents who have tested positive remained at 26.
Overall, the number of test-confirmed cases in the Sarnia area is now 268, with 223 having recovered and 25 deaths in the community.
The outbreak at the home is described as “nothing short of a nightmare,” by Nell Vrolyk, chairperson of the home’s board, in a letter to the editor.
“This has been, bar none, the worst experience of my entire professional career where people we love, care for, and see every day have fallen ill, or even passed away, from this virus,” Vrolyk said. “It has been awake-in-the-middle-of-the-night-bone-chilling and we have been relentless in our strategies to slow the virus.”
Vrolyk thanked the community for its support and said staff at the home “have been tireless in their attempts to beat this virus.”
In late May, Vision residents still COVID-19 positive were moved to Bluewater Health as officials at the hospital and long-term care home worked on reviewing procedures and cleaning at Vision.
Teams from Bluewater Health began providing training at Vision last week on infection control, including hand hygiene, personal protective equipment and environmental services protocols.
The hospital reported Saturday it had 11 patients who have tested positive for COVID-19, and 21 suspected cases awaiting test results.
Lambton Public Health said Saturday 3.3 per cent of the 8,106 local test results received, so far, have been positive for COVID-19.
