Journal Staff
The number of positive COVID-19 cases in Sarnia-Lambton climbed to 105 Friday, and officials are now reporting a tenth death.
At least five of the deaths are linked to an outbreak at Landmark Village, where 15 residents and seven staff have been infected at the Sarnia seniors' home to date.
The new death was listed on the Bluewater Health COVID update page, Friday; the numbers rose from 89 cases and nine deaths reported Thursday.
Despite the outbreak at Landmark, there are no restrictions on personal support staff from working at more than one retirement home or long-term care facility, Lambton Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Sudit Ranade noted, as is often the case with the profession.
Restricting them would likely impact staffing numbers at certain sites, creating another issue for operators, he said.
Additional test swabs are arriving in Sarnia-Lambton, Ranade said Thursday.
“Hopefully, if we get more swabs, we can start doing swabs in more places, which is to say setting up more facilities.”
Wider testing would better identify people with COVID-19 who show no symptoms, he added.
“We definitely want to make sure if we’re setting up that expectation (of more tests) ,that we can meet it.”
A total of 598 tests have now been conducted locally (up from 582 reported Wednesday), both in hospital and at the community assessment centre, with 78 pending, and 415 negative results.
Lambton Public Health says 11 people have recovered.
As of Friday, 28 people with confirmed COVID-19 were being treated at Bluewater Health, while an additional 16 patients in hospital (presumed to have the virus) were awaiting test results.
Across the province, 478 new cases were reported Friday, bringing the provincial total to 56,237, while 222 people have died, and 2,574 have recovered.