There are now 15 long-term care and retirement homes in Windsor Essex experiencing an outbreak of COVID-19 as mass testing in the homes wraps up.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Wajid Ahmed said the local health unit has completed the initial sweep of all facilities that requested health unit staff come in to do the tests, while some homes completed their own testing.
Dr. Ahmed said many of the residents and staff who are testing positive at long-term care homes right now are asymptomatic.
"They are all just a result of mass testing and we are investigating those cases as well to identify what additional steps that we need to ensure the safety and well being of other residents in the facility," said Dr. Ahmed.
Riverside Place, Leamington Mennonite Home, and Dolce Vita are the most recent facilities to experience outbreaks. A full list can be found on the WECHU website.
There have been 11,034 people in the community tested for the virus. A total of 726 tests have come back positive, an increase of 21 cases from Sunday. The health unit is waiting for 1,761 tests to come back from the lab.
Dr. Ahmed said now that most of the mass testing of long-term care and retirement facilities is complete, they should see the number of pending tests go down.
"We have also heard from our provincial lab that they have significantly increased the capacity," said Ahmed. "They have good processes in place so the hope is we should be able to get the results back sooner than later."
Test results are taking an average of six to seven days to be returned.
