DAN CEARNS Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
KAWARTHA LAKES: The COVID-19 situation at Pinecrest Nursing Home seems to have turned a corner, with the home again reporting no new deaths, as of Monday, April 20th. “Our residents are showing positive signs of improvement which is great news after such a challenging few weeks. However, our staff are not taking anything for granted. We remain focused on implementing precautionary measures and are diligently maintaining all new and ongoing care directives from the province,” read a statement from the Bobcaygeon nursing home’s Administrator, Mary Carr. No person has reportedly died from the outbreak at the nursing home since Thursday, April 9th. 29 people died from the local outbreak that started on March 18th, at Pinecrest Nurning Home. “Public Health will be retesting all residents this week for clearance of the virus. We commend Public Health for proactively retesting residents who have been free of symptoms for at least 14 days, and I look forward to sharing more positive news with the community as information becomes available,” Ms. Carr said, in a press release. Late last week, Pinecrest sent out an encouraging report about things, somewhat, returning back to normal for residents. “We continue to believe that we have turned a corner and that many of our residents, who had previously been ill or tested positive for COVID, are now doing much better,” Ms. Carr stated in a press release on Friday, April 17th. “Today, following protocols from Public Health, we will take some residents for walks. This is positive news after a very challenging time. We’re not out of the woods yet, but these are very encouraging signs.” As of press time, the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge district health unit has reported 33 deaths and 111 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the City of Kawartha Lakes.