Last Updated Wednesday, January 27, 2021 5:03AM EST The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit said initial screening results for another 99 people have come back positive for a “variant of concern.” The SMDHU said the 99 were discovered in data from a point of prevalance study conducted by Public Health Ontario, where all positive samples from Jan. 20 are being tested for the three main COVID-19 variants of concern, including variants first detected in the United Kingdom, Brazil, and South Africa. The public health unit said while most of the 99 cases have a link to the outbreak at Roberta Place, a long-term care home in Barrie where six cases of the UK variant have already been confirmed, two individuals have no links to the facility.
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Provincial inspection shows Roberta Place LTC home failed to ensure residents were isolated
by Michael Ranger
Last Updated Jan 26, 2021 at 9:28 am EDT
Workers arrive at the Roberta Place Long Term Care home in Barrie, Ont. on Monday, January 18, 2021. The home has seen an outbreak of COVID-19 among staff and residents. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
A recent inspection report suggests that a Barrie long-term care home currently experiencing a significant COVID-19 outbreak failed to ensure that the home was safe for residents.
The
report from the Ministry of Long-Term Care is dated Jan. 18, and says that inspectors found the Roberta Place home to be non-compliant with certain directives surrounding keeping infected residents isolated from non-infected residents.
Ontario wrestles with how to contain more contagious variant of COVID-19
Officials are debating whether additional public health measures are needed to rein in a COVID-19 variant first detected in the United Kingdom that is now spreading in Ontario.
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CBC News ·
Posted: Jan 26, 2021 6:00 AM ET | Last Updated: January 26
Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks during a COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force meeting at the legislature on Dec. 4. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)
BARRIE The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit has identified 99 more cases of what it believes to be the highly contagious U.K. COVID-19 B.1.1.7. variant in the region. It had previously reported seven cases of the variant. Health officials say most of the new cases are linked to the Roberta Place Long Term Care home outbreak in Barrie, Ont; however, two cases aren t connected. As of Monday afternoon, more than 200 people have contracted the virus, while 44 residents and one essential caregiver have died at the long-term care home. Our investigation into these preliminary results is early, but it appears that two persons have no known link to those individuals we recently identified as positive for the United Kingdom (U.K.) variant, Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health for the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit said in a release.