Saskatoon long-term care centre in suspect COVID-19 outbreak following positive case

A resident at a long-term care facility in Saskatoon has tested positive for COVID-19.

That’s according to Eric Anderson, communications leader at Sherbrooke Community Centre. Anderson said this places Sherbrooke in a “suspect COVID-19 outbreak.”

“That means that we go into, basically all of our infection control practices to make sure that its limited to one person,” he said. “Everything that our staff have been trained for, in terms of proper PPE usage (will) be put into place.”

Anderson said outbreaks are not new to the facility.

“Before COVID, we would sometimes have influenza outbreaks or maybe we would have an outbreak of norovirus, our staff are familiar in terms of proper infection control, so they know what to do,” he said.

Management is now working closely with the Saskatchewan Health Authority and Public Health Officials to identify anyone who may have been exposed. Anderson said outbreak control measures have been implemented.

He explained that the layout of Sherbrooke is unique, with a traditional-style care home on one end, with another ‘village model’ on the other end of the facility.

The COVID-19 case was identified on the ‘village model’ end, which has “11 distinct houses,” according to Anderson.

“Within each house there are nine to 10 residents. Each house has its own kitchen facilities (and) has its own washer and drier,” he said. “The majority of residents have their own individual room with their own individual bathroom, as well.”

He said the village model is very easy to isolate with the COVID protocols. Those residents are isolated from other residents through the building, something Anderson said makes them feel fortunate in terms of its layout.

“You hope for the best and prepare for the worst, and so we have been preparing for this since the middle of March,” he explained.

“We know what to do and we feel confident with our education, with our training and we have incredible staff who feel confident that we can isolate it and get through this.”

The other residents in the house were tested Saturday, with results expected at some point Sunday, Anderson said.