ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Newfoundland and Labrador passed the 1,000 total COVID-19 case mark on Thursday as the Department of Health and Community Services reported five new confirmed positive tests, including one of a health-care worker at the Trepassey Community Health (Nurse Abernathy) Clinic.
It’s the second case of a health-care employee in the province testing positive for the virus this week,
In its Thursday update, the department confirmed a positive case identified Tuesday in the Labrador-Grenfell region was an employee at the Charles S. Curtis Memorial Hospital in St. Anthony.
The St. Anthony case is under investigation to determine a source. However, the source of infection in Trepassey is known to have been identified, That’s because the Department says the infection sources for all of Thursday’s cases — involving four males and a female — have been pinpointed. Three in the Eastern Health region are contacts of previous cases, while another in the Eastern region is related to domestic travel. The update does not specify which applies to the Trepassey clinic case.
The fifth case involves an individual in the Western Health region and is related to international travel.
In a separate news release, Eastern Health said the Trepassey clinic was closed for the day on Thursday. The individual who tested positive has been isolating at home, while Occupational Health is reaching out to contacts and will provide further guidance on testing and isolation.
Anyone experiencing one single symptom of COVID-19 should complete the online self-assessment and referral tool at www.811healthline.ca or call the NL Health Line 811 to arrange for testing.
In the same release, Eastern Health said it has been diligent in its prevention protocol at this clinic and its other facilities during the pandemic, noting enhanced cleaning protocols have been implemented and personal protective equipment protocols are in place for all employees and patients.
Meanwhile, the department issued a couple of advisories Thursday.
One calls for passengers who travelled on Air Canada Flight 8996 from Halifax to St. John’s on Thursday, Feb. 25 to arrange for testing. Officials say the request is being made out of caution because of one of the cases reported in the Eastern region Thursday.
Another advisory is for rotational workers to inform them about an identified COVID-19 outbreak at the Tourmaline Oil Musreau Field Site in Alberta. The department was notified about the outbreak by the Public Health Agency of Canada because people from Newfoundland and Labrador work there.
With Thursday’s five cases, the total number of cases in Newfoundland and Labrador since the start of the pandemic reached 1,002.
Meanwhile, there were 33 new recoveries in the province announced Thursday, all in the Eastern Health region, meaning the active case count stands at 121, with 118 of them in the Eastern region, two in Labrador-Grenfell and one in Western.
There are eight people hospitalized with the virus, including two in intensive care. In both cases, those numbers are down by one from Wednesday.
