New COVID-19 outbreak strikes Gatineau nursing home

A new COVID-19 outbreak has been declared atCHSLD Lionel-mondin Gatineau, Que., where at least two dozen residents and staff have contracted the illnesswhile waiting for their second vaccine doses.

On Monday, the region'shealth authority,Centre intgr de sant et des services sociaux de l'Outaouais(CISSSO), said 23 residents of the long-term care home near the Hull Hospital had tested positive. There are fewer than five cases among staffand further screening is ongoing, said the health unit in a news release.

"Several positive cases [were] reported in the last 24 hours," according to the news release. CISSSOsaid it's on the lookout for possibleCOVID-19 variants related to theoutbreak.

Majority of cases asymptomatic

According to CISSSO, nearly all those infected were vaccinated with an initial dose in December. Most of the latest cases areasymptomatic and were discoveredonly afterscheduled screening, making it difficult to determine when or how the outbreak began, CISSSO said.

In the news release, CISSSO reassuredfamily membersthat the majority of those confirmed cases are "doing well for the moment."

• Rapid testing will add to strain on long-term care sector, advocates warn

ACHSLD Lionel-mondresidentwas the first person in western Quebec to get a COVID-19 vaccine in late December. Seventeenresidents and two staff members at the home died during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both of Canada's approved COVID-19 vaccines take some time to reach their full 95 per cent protection, even after the required second dose:about one week for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and two weeks for the Moderna product.

Quebec's vaccine experts said last weekthe initialdoses appearto be 80 per cent effective after 14 days in younger people, and after three weeks amonglong-term care home residents.

Long-term care home sees new COVID-19 outbreak, months after residents received first vaccine dose

4 years ago

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Earl Brown, professor of virology at the University of Ottawa, says most cases at CHSLD Lionel-mond in Gatineau are asymptomatic, which may mean that residents have been protected from the worst of the disease by their first vaccine doses.