COVID outbreak declared at Bluewater Health

Bluewater Health (Photo by Colin Gowdy, BlackburnNews)


A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at Bluewater Health, after three staff members tested positive for the virus.

The hospital said that up to 15 staff members have tested positive at any one time, since the beginning of the pandemic.

Communications Chief Julia Oosterman said on June 5, the province issued a directive stating that more than two positive cases of the virus within a 14-day period is to be considered an outbreak.

“In the last few days we’ve had three staff test positive,” said Oosterman. “They are from a specific unit and that unit has actually been closed. So, the outbreak was completely confined to a specific area and we’ve been able to close and manage that unit.”

Oosterman said all three staff members are isolating at home.

“We will be testing any other potential colleagues, anything like that just to make sure that everyone is completely safe,” she said. “And we’re just going to be really ensuring that over the next 48 hours that we’ve caught the entire outbreak with those three people.”

The institutional outbreak declared by Lambton Public Health is the eighth reported in the community since the pandemic started.

Health officials continue to monitor an outbreak that was declared at Vision Nursing Home in Sarnia on April 23. There have been 26 cases reported among residents and 28 among staff at the long-term care home.

Ten of the 25 related deaths in Sarnia-Lambton have been linked to the facility.

On its website Thursday morning, Lambton Public Health reported 279 confirmed cases of the virus in the community and 239 recoveries.

With files from Colin Gowdy