Worker at Northwood long-term care home in Halifax tests positive for COVID-19

HALIFAX -

A case of COVID-19 has been linked to Northwood, the long-term care home in Halifax that was the epicentre of the virus during the first wave of the pandemic.

Officials confirmed Sunday a staff member has tested positive for the virus.

"With 2,000 staff working throughout the organization and the number of COVID cases in the community, we are certainly at high risk for having staff exposed to COVID-19," said Northwood CEO Janet Simm.

"We have not let our guard down one bit since our outbreak. We continue to screen, we continue to PPE, we have protocols in place in the event we do have a positive case."

She cannot say if the employee who contracted the virus has been vaccinated.Simm said Northwood is working with public health to conduct contact tracing.

"At this point in time, all staff and residents who may have been exposed, again this is precautionary because we are wearing masks and PPE, all the tests coming back are negative," she said.

As a precautionary measure, Simm said residents located on the impacted floor are not permitted to leave the floor.

"We monitor staff in terms of their entry into the building, in terms of exposure to COVID-19, and of course we monitor the exposure sites. If any staff have symptoms or if they’ve been exposed, there have been protocols so that they don’t come to work in this situation," said Simm.

During the first wave of the pandemic last year, an outbreak of COVID-19 plagued Northwood’s Halifax Campus. A total of 53 residents died from the virus.