[ad_1]
Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting a new case of COVID-19 on Thursday: a man in the eastern health region over the age of 70 and a contact from a previous case.
Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr Janice Fitzgerald, said there are now four cases of COVID-19 in the Grand Bank community, all of which appear to be linked.
At this time, there is no evidence of spread in the community.
“At this point, what we’re finding is that all of these cases are linked, so we’re not seeing any spread beyond that cluster,” Fitzgerald said.
“I know it’s alarming for the community when situations like these occur, and I warn people not to panic or contribute to rumors.”
Fitzgerald said the province has been fortunate to keep the virus at bay for as long as it has had up to this point and reiterated the importance of continuing to follow COVID-19 guidelines. He said he suspects the public is becoming more complacent lately.
“We are all tired. I am here today to tell you that our battle is not over, and we have to stay on course,” Fitzgerald said.
Watch the full update on November 19th:
Fitzgerald was stern in reiterating the importance of keeping the number of contacts as low as possible and avoiding encounters with people outside of close coherent contacts.
“This is something we all need to take seriously. You just need to look elsewhere in the country to realize how quickly this can get out of hand,” he said. “And I can’t stress it enough, how important it is to follow the guidelines we have issued. We should look at it in a very similar way to how we saw things in April.”
Thursday’s live briefing, held by Fitzgerald and Health Minister John Haggie, was a last-minute move to dispel rumors and address concerns or fears fueled on social media, with news of the latest small cluster. of the province’s COVID-19 that has taken hold since Wednesday afternoon.
“We try our best to have information as accurate as possible, to release it as timely as possible, but at the end of the day we can’t beat the keyboard warriors who will sit there and do their thing,” said Haggie.
Fitzgerald said the index case in Grand Bank was not a rolling worker. An index case is the first case identified in a group of related cases.
Practice public health measures, be compassionate: mayor
Eastern Health officials addressed the situation at Grand Bank ahead of Thursday’s briefing, saying contact tracing is underway in a case where a tenant of the Blue Crest Cottages retirement facility in the Burin Peninsula community tested positive. at COVID-19 Wednesday. and all tenants were asked to quarantine for 14 days.
On Thursday, Dr. David Allison, the health authority’s medical officer, said there was “a significant possibility of exposure” inside the nursing home.
“This presents a challenge because it is sometimes difficult to know exactly what kind of interactions people are having, yet these people are perhaps the most vulnerable to COVID-19 in our province,” he said.
While some people are being tested for COVID-19, Allison pointed out that there is a challenge with those tests so early in the contact tracing process, as the virus has an incubation period of five to 14 days. This means that whatever the test result is, the contacts will have to remain self-isolating for the entire two-week period.
With tenants invited to stay in their apartments, Allison also said that the common areas of the facility have been cleaned and closed and tenants can only receive essential visitors to receive care.
The tenant with COVID-19 was a contact from a previously confirmed case.
Also on Wednesday, Grand Bank Mayor Rex Matthews urged residents to practice vigilant public health measures and be compassionate towards fellow citizens.
“Nobody chooses to have this virus, and for those who do, their lives can be very stressful, difficult and upsetting,” Matthews wrote in a post on the Town of Grand Bank Facebook page.
Eastern Health CEO David Diamond also called for “civility and respect” as the search for leads continues.
“It’s really easy for people to be emotional and angry about these kinds of problems,” she said.
As of Wednesday, the province had nine active cases and an overall case load of 307. Since March, 294 people have recovered from the virus and there have been four deaths.
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
Source link
