Journal Staff

Five new COVID-19 cases were reported in Sarnia-Lambton this morning, four of them at Sarnia’s beleaguered Vision Nursing Home.

Lambton Public Health said two more residents and two more staff members have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Seventeen residents and 16 staff members have now been infected, and four residents have died.

The 146-bed long-term care home on Wellington Street has been struggling to contain an outbreak for nearly a month, with front-line workers and managers living in adjacent quarters to limit community exposure.

Since Saturday, 11 staff members and four residents have contracted the virus.

Health-care workers and senior home residents now account for more than one-third of the total cases in Sarnia-Lambton.

The status of outbreaks at two other senior homes in Sarnia was unchanged this morning. Two residents of Village on the St. Clair and one resident of Marshall Gowland Manor have tested positive.

Meanwhile, Lambton County is preparing to open two more child-care sites in Sarnia for the families of essential workers only.

London Bridge Child Care will open a site May 25 and the YMCA will follow on June 1.

The two new services are in addition to Wee Watch, which is already offering emergency childcare.

Space is limited, and the county stressed children should be kept at home wherever possible.

Essential workers needing emergency childcare should contact the Lambton County Children's Services Department by emailing [email protected] or by calling 519-344-2057, ext. 2201