Southwood Care Centre has positive COVID-19 case: notice

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — A resident at the Southwood Care Centre in southeast Calgary has tested positive for COVID-19 according to note sent to families of those in the centre.

In the note obtained by 660 NEWS, the centre says the site is now considered by Alberta Health Services to be in outbreak, though it was not mentioned in Wednesday’s update from the province.

In the note, the centre says since the initial outbreak of COVID-19 they have been adjusting policies and since they found out about their own local case of the disease they have introduced a number of elevated precautionary safety measures:

• Isolation of any resident who tests positive for COVID-19
• Isolation of any resident displaying symptoms of possible COVID-19 infection, including immediate COVID-19 testing and sharing of results
• The use of protective personal equipment (PPE) by staff
• Further increases to the Enhanced Cleaning Requirements ordered by the Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) already in place
• Discontinuation of all non-essential programs and activities
• Continued application of social distancing wherever possible

This news comes as a handful of other care centres report cases of COVID-19, including the Mackenzie Towne care facility which now has 35 cases of the disease.