Home News Local News River Glen Haven in lockdown following third COVID-19 outbreak

IMG_1809_web — River Glen Haven Nursing Home in Sutton, Ontario

River Glen Haven in lockdown following third COVID-19 outbreak

April 24, 2021

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By: Mike Anderson

York Region Public Health reported a third COVID-19 outbreak at River Glen Haven Nursing Home on April 9, after four staff members and one essential caregiver tested positive for the virus.

According to RGH’s Administrator Darlene Horne, public health believes two staff members were infected after sharing a staff washroom used by a staff member who later tested positive.

“As a variant of concern (VOC) is highly contagious when staff shared the same washroom, the spread would have been transmitted at that point,” she said.

An essential caregiver, who was previously vaccinated, also tested positive. However, his infection is believed to have occurred outside the home.

Still, the essential caregiver was admitted to the home after a faulty rapid antigen detection test (RADT), currently used to screen visitors, produced a false negative.

“The rapid test failed to detect the infection,” said Ms. Horne, who stressed the essential caregiver, who wore a mask, did not infect any of the home’s 74 residents or staff members.

However, the multiple staff infections did place the home into a “confirmed” outbreak.

“Due to the variant of concern (VOC) in the home, the third floor was put on droplet precautions. And due to the external positive that came into the home, RGH was moved from a surveillance outbreak to a confirmed outbreak,” she said.

While the essential caregiver and two of the staff cases are now resolved, the last staff member tested positive on April 13.

According to public health, an outbreak may be declared over when there are no new cases in residents or staff after 14 days — so the current outbreak could be declared over by April 27.

The outbreak means that RGH is now in lockdown, with residents confined to their rooms and group activities cancelled.

“Unfortunately, one of the staff cases was confirmed as a VOC. To protect the residents, who all remain negative, isolation is required,” Ms. Horne said.

However, she said staff would be providing more one-to-one programming, increasing virtual visits, and allowing residents to take walks for fresh air.

“Ideally, we would like residents to stay in their room; however, we do have residents coming out for walks,” she said. “It’s still their right to do so while masked.”

“Essential caregivers can still visit, but out of caution, we have asked that they limit their visits. They can visit after showing a negative PCR result completed no longer than seven days.”

According to Ms. Horne, RGH is complying with the Ministry of Long-Term Care’s (MLTC) revised Directive #3, which was recently reissued to LTC homes after family members and advocacy groups pressured the Ministry to lessen restrictions on residents.

Even during a lockdown, residents can now walk outside to get fresh air, although they must be masked and remain on the property.

Another critical change is the definition of what constitutes an outbreak.

Under the previous definition, a single lab-confirmed case of COVID-19 in one resident or staff member constituted an outbreak, which, according to MLTC, was the lowest threshold in Canada for declaring an outbreak.

The new definition defines an outbreak as two or more lab-confirmed cases in residents, staff or visitors, with an epidemiological link, within a 14 day period, where at least one case likely acquired the infection in the home.

According to MLTC, the change gives public health units more discretion to restrict outbreak measures to a specific outbreak area rather than the entire home if appropriate.

“On the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, we are changing the definition of an outbreak to better reflect current circumstances and to respond to progress that’s been made to keep COVID-19 out of long-term care homes, while still actively monitoring case numbers and variants of concern,” said Krystle Caputo, Press Secretary for the Minister of Long-Term Care Dr. Merrilee Fullerton, in a statement to The Post.

“The updated definition will help support the mental, emotional and physical well-being of residents and their families. It will allow for more social activities and visits in homes where there is no evidence that COVID-19 has been transmitted within the home.”

Natalie Mehra, Executive Director of the Ontario Health Coalition, who recently lobbied the Ford government for fewer restrictions on LTC residents, welcomed the changes.

“The definition of an outbreak is much closer to the definition that they’re using in schools right now,” she said.

“So the cancellation of all programs, including limited social interactions, will not apply unless there is a much more stringent definition of an outbreak.”

“When the definition of an outbreak was one resident or one staff, we supported that because we wanted outbreak measures to protect people from dying or suffering. But no one imagined at the time that homes would then leave the residents in isolation with very onerous restrictions for a year or more.”

“The Ministry has asked homes to update the rules, and they’ve said at minimum homes have to ensure that residents can go outdoors. And they have to create opportunities for caregivers to be with loved ones outside of the resident’s room and resume group activities with appropriate infection protection and control (IPAC) measures.”

According to Ms. Horne, RGH, when not in lockdown, has taken steps to improve residents’ mental and physical well-being, including re-introducing social gatherings and communal dining.

The home is also providing new programming for residents, including sound therapies and aromatherapies.

And the staff are ensuring that residents have at least two exercise periods a day.

Communication with family members has also improved, with a revised newsletter and Facebook site.

Ms. Horne said there are also plans to build a new gazebo and expand garden plots for residents.

While Ms. Horne believes the previous restrictions had a detrimental impact on the well-being of residents, she’s hopeful the Ministry’s new directive helps address the sense of isolation they experienced over the past year.

“I believe it was restrictive because nobody knew what we were dealing with — so they shut everything down and caused greater isolation, instead of looking at avenues to keep things open,” she said.