Pioneer Manor declares outbreak after resident tests positive for COVID-19

The City of Greater Sudbury says a resident of Pioneer Manor, a city-run long term care facility, has tested positive for COVID-19.

This comes days after Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, the chief medical officer of health with Public Health Sudbury and Districts, announced her plan to test every resident and staff member of long-term care facilitiesin Sudbury and Manitoulin.

Ministry of Health guidelines require an outbreak to be declared with a single laboratory-confirmed case in a long-term care facility.

In a statement released Sunday night, Sudbury mayor Brian Bigger said the results confirm the reasoning behind proactively testing all residents and staff at Pioneer Manor.

"Although concerning, after all of the precautions and controls that staff have put in place to prevent the spread of the virus, the identification and isolation of asymptomatic people is the best way to protect our residents and staff throughout this crisis," Bigger said.

Bigger also noted that cases appear to be receding across the province, but this should not be a call for people to relax measures against the spread of the virus.

"Lives are at stake, let's keep that top of mind when we are making choices in the days to come," he said.

The number of cases in Sudbury is currently at 51. St. Joseph's Villa declared an outbreak at its facility April 19 when one staff member tested positive for the virus.

According to a statement from Aaron Archibald, the director of long-term care at Pioneer Manor, the resident, a man in his 70s, is currently in his own room in self isolation.

"All other residents in this area were put on isolation and staff caring for them are not performing work outside of this area, wherever possible.," the statement said. "The risk of infection in the home remains low. All 423 residents and 432 staff of the home have been tested."

"This is the only positive test result to date, and numerous negative results have already been received for residents in the same area of the home."