OTTAWA —
A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at Elisabeth Bruyere Residence after a staff member at Bruyere tested positive for novel coronavirus.
In a statement on its website, Bruyere says the employee worked at two of its three campuses, “taking shifts at our Saint-Vincent and Elisabeth Bruyere campuses and Elisabeth Bruyere Residence, before testing positive.”
None of the residents or patients at Bruyere have tested positive for COVID-19 to date. There are 757 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa.
Bruyere says it was informed on April 16 that the staff member tested positive for novel coronavirus, and is in self-isolation at home. Health officials determined the staff member acquired COVID-19 from a close contact in the community.
“We can confirm that while they were working they did not have symptoms and followed all of the infection prevention and control measures that we have in place,” said Bruyere in a statement on Saturday afternoon.
“This included following the recommended use of personal protective equipment and practicing physical distancing.”
Bruyere says since the source of COVID-19 transmission is known, “the circumstances do not warrant the declaration of an outbreak at our hospital sites.”
“Out of an extreme abundance of caution an outbreak, however, has been declared at Elisabeth Bruyere Residence on the direction of the Medical Officer of Health.”
In a message to families, patients and the community, Bruyere acknowledges outbreak “is a very scary word” during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they want everyone to know two things.
“The first is that in the response to COVID-19, given the vulnerable nature of our long-term care population, one staff member having a positive result is enough to declare an outbreak,” said Bruyere.
“The second is that, preventatively we already had all outbreak measures in place at both of our long-term care homes to prevent the spread of the virus within our homes.”
