Eastern Townships long-term care residence hit by COVID-19 outbreak

A long-term care residence in the Eastern Townships has been dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak among staff and residents for several days, with regional public health officials announcing Sunday that two more employees have been diagnosed.

That brings the total to four employees and five residents with confirmed cases at the CHSLD de Lambton, a town about 80 kilometres northeast of Sherbrooke, Que. It is the worst outbreak to occur in a CHSLD in the region since the start of the pandemic.

The outbreak began with two cases reported among staff on Aug. 28. On Saturday, public health officials confirmed five residents had been infected, with Sunday's announcement confirming the most recent two cases in the employee ranks.

"As with each positive case, public health teams are busy identifying the contacts of these two people deemed to be at moderate or high risk so that they can be tested and put themselves in isolation," the regional health authority, the CIUSSS de l'Estrie-CHUS, said in a news release.

About 40 facility employees and 29 residents have been tested in the past few days.

On Saturday, the five infected residents were transferred to the hot zone of a facility in Sherbrooke.

"We understand that this transfer is difficult to accept and creates anxiety among the families of the five residents, but we assure them that it is the safest decision for their loved ones," Sylvie Quenneville, a deputy director with the health authority, said in a news release Saturday.

Lambton city councillor Michel Lamontagne said he was encouraged by the response to the outbreak.

"The fact that they've transferred them to a containment centre in Sherbrooke is reassuring," he said. "It's better for the patients and it's better for the people."