By Chad Ingram

The COVID-19 outbreak that had been declared at Hyland Crest on March 12 was declared over on March 27.

That outbreak was declared after one staff member at the Minden long-term care home tested positive for the virus. Under guidelines from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, if a single resident or staff member of a long-term care facility has a laboratory-confirmed positive case of COVID-19, then an outbreak must be declared.

A March 27 press release from Haliburton Highlands Health Services indicated that repeated testing of residents, staff and essential caregivers had resulted in no further positive cases.
“We are, as always, pleased with the vigilance that our staff maintain with the infection prevention and control protocols across our organization,” HHHS president and CEO Carolyn Plummer said in that release. “This was clearly an important factor in the containment of this outbreak; and will continue to be an important factor for the duration of this pandemic. We are grateful for their perseverance through these challenging times.”
Residents were kept isolated in their rooms for the duration of the outbreak.

“Staff members and essential caregivers, who provide important physical and emotional support to long-term care residents, will continue to partake in regular COVID-19 surveillance testing,” the release from HHHS reads. “Rigorous infection prevention and control practices inside the home such as using personal protective equipment, hand washing, enhanced cleaning and disinfection will remain in place as they have been throughout the pandemic.”

The outbreak was the second one at Hyland Crest since the start of the pandemic, with a first declared on Jan. 31, and declared over Feb. 14. In that instance, two essential caregivers had tested positive for the virus.