Three new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed at Hastings Manor as health authorities ramped up testing at the facility to track the novel coronavirus to better protect the population at the 253-bed long-term care home for the aged.

Three residents tested positive during a major testing sweep of the seniors’ facility over the weekend bringing the total number of cases at the Dundas Street facility to 12 since an outbreak was first declared at the home April 2.

Eight residents (one is in hospital) and four care workers have tested positive for the virus prompting immediate isolation of the infected residents and workers were sent home to prevent any further spread.

Jim Pine, chief administrative officer of Hastings County, said Monday in an interview with The Intelligencer the county is confident the virus is contained and is not spreading through the facility.

“I can confirm it’s not spreading. All of the residents who have tested positive continue to be in the one resident home area so it hasn’t spread to other parts of Hastings Manor which is obviously tremendous news,” Pine said.

“In being proactive, that’s what we have been doing working with the physician at the home and our own staff, we felt it was important to test all of the residents on that one wing of the manor who had not yet been tested.”

Over the weekend, Pine said 133 tests were administered through the Community Paramedicine Program in which county paramedics are using swab kits to take samples from residents and staff.

The new positive-test numbers are indicative of more testing being done, not the virus spreading, he said.

“There were a number of swabs done on Saturday that went down to the lab in Kingston and they were done by our community paramedics, Doug Socha’s folks. So we did, I think it was, 17 swabs on Saturday. On Sunday morning, two of those came back positive. As a result of that, we are doing testing of all residents in the manor.”

“So, we will have a very good picture of the whole facility,” Pine said, “as a result of that. That additional testing was something Dr. [Piotr] Oglaza, [medical officer of health], totally wanted.”

“Our physicians are monitoring all the residents very closely so we have lots of eyes on the situation,” said Pine.

The ramped-up testing follows word on Sunday from Hastings Prince Edward Public Health (HPEPH) that it is supporting proactive testing of residents in local long-term care (LTC) homes that are in outbreak for COVID-19.

More testing is under way according to wishes expressed by Premier Doug Ford last week to put an “iron ring” around Ontario’s most vulnerable citizens.

In a statement, Oglaza said: “As we continue our outbreak management support and surveillance, additional staff and residents of Hastings Manor have been monitored, and tested when appropriate.”

“Recent confirmation of additional cases of COVID-19 in the facility has escalated the testing and monitoring process,” Oglaza said.

The health unit, meanwhile said it will take the following steps in the event of any new outbreaks in other long-term care or retirement homes in the county:

• Test close contacts of any positive cases – even if asymptomatic;
• Consider testing of all residents in floor/wing/living area – if appropriate;
• Consider facility wide testing – if appropriate.

The local health unit said it will launch a new online reporting tool this week, “which will identify how many confirmed and probable cases in the region are associated with residents or staff of long-term care homes.”

Any local long-term care homes or other health care facilities that are declared as being in outbreak for COVID-19 are posted on HPEPH’s Facility Outbreak page.

For more details, log on to the health unit’s web page at hpePublicHealth.ca.

Or, the health unit can be reached at 613-966-5500 or 1-800-267-2803. The information line is open weekdays 8:30 am – 6:30 pm, and weekends 8:30 am – 4:30 pm.