Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, chief medical health officer for the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU), confirmed the first COVID-19 outbreak in a long-term care facility in the region. Eight residents and three staff members at the Pinecrest Nursing Home in Plantagenet have tested positive for the disease, though the residents and two of the care home employees are not showing symptoms.

“We are going to be testing all the long-term care facilities,” said Dr. Roumeliotis, adding that local hospitals are now assembling teams to assist the EOHU and local ambulance services in collecting swab samples from residents and staff at all 17 facilities in the Five Counties and Cornwall area.

The situation began when one employee at the Plantagenet seniors home went for testing after showing some symptoms of COVID-19. That employee went into immediate self-isolation. At the EOHU’s request, paramedics with the Prescott-Russell Ambulance Service then tested all 59 residents and the remaining staff at the nursing home.

Test results came back positive for eight residents and two more staff members but none of them, as of April 28, showed any symptoms.

The incident marks the first official “outbreak” of COVID-19 at a seniors’ facility for the Eastern Ontario region. The EOHU continues to monitor the situation as part of the protocol for dealing with COVID-19 at a long-term residence, seniors’ retirement home, a group home or any other type of communal lodging residence. That also includes keeping local municipal officials and others updated on the situation.