FREDERICTON -- A superspreader event in the Saint John, N.B., region has been confirmed as the source of some 60 cases of COVID-19.
Dr. Jennifer Russell said the superspreader event -- a gathering where someone or several individuals were asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic -- was held at two venues on the same night in November.
There's lots of speculation as to who was on hand -- and where -- but it's not the first time the province's chief medical officer of health has mentioned the event.
"Number one, where there is a superspreader event, and there are some superspreaders involved in some of the cases, so we are expecting more cases to pop up," Russell said on Nov. 20.
That's the day Saint John went into the orange phase.
Since then, more than 60 cases have been announced in the Saint John region.
Russell also said that many health-care workers were having to self-isolate because of the event.
"The fact that there are so many health-care workers involved at this moment in time that are self-isolating and again with the contact tracing we’ve done and the type of contacts we’ve found and those people who are self-isolating as a result, we expect many of them to become positive," Russell said.
Of the almost 2,000 people isolating in the province, about 80 of them are Horizon Health workers.
The Kennebacasis and Saint John police forces say none of their members have had to self-isolate as a result of the recent uptick in cases.
Russell will not confirm the Parkland Saint John outbreak is the result of the superspreader event, but did say all of those cases are linked to one source.
Parkland Shannex said Wednesday that no more cases have been found after mass testing at two of its facilities on Monday.
Testing was also done at another facility Tuesday, and they're hoping to get those results in the next 24 hours.
