The Acting Medical Officer of Health for the Renfrew County and District Health Unit, Doctor Robert Cushman, has called an end to the outbreak at Riverview Heights retirement home in Pembroke.
Cushman says one of the 102 swabs done on staff and residents at the home on May 19th was reported as positive for COVID-19. All the remaining swabs were negative and the resident with the positive result was asymptomatic. The home had no previous history of COVID-19 amongst the residents or staff. Furthermore, there was no history of COVID-19 in family members of residents and staff.
Based off the information the RCDHU tested the positive individual two more times along with three additional residents and seven staff who had tested negative during the original screening, but were potential contacts. All of these test results all came back negative for COVID-19.
Since May 21st, when the test result was reported, the facility has been under strict outbreak precautions. Rigorous infection control measures were put in place. The identified resident contacts were isolated to their rooms, and staff contacts sent home to self isolate.
The health unit says based on all the testing done at Riverview Heights and the low prevalence of COVID-19 in Renfrew County and District, which is now less than 1 in 1,000 tests coming back positive, there is a high probability that the original test was a false positive. The RCDHU says we will never really know for sure, but all precautions have been taken.
Doctor Cushman adds the staff at Riverview Heights along with those who volunteered to help out from Pembroke Regional Hospital deserve our respect and congratulations for their around the clock dedication and professionalism. To date, we have seen what tragedy can happen in seniors’ homes elsewhere, and while there was potentially never any imminent threat, they took it upon themselves to ensure the safety of the residents during a potential crisis.