Second wave ripples into Frontenac County

Jeff Green | Oct 14, 2020

As countries around the world led the way, Canada prepared for the second wave of COVID-19, and in late September the numbers of cases jumped in both Ontario and Quebec.

Still, aside from a number of cases associated with the return of Queen’s students, some of whom seem to be studying virtually but  partying like it is 2019, our rural communities had remained virus free since the beginning of summer.

Late last week, that started to change. On Thursday evening, Frontenac County announced the positive test of a staff member at Fairmount Home, the county owned long term care facility that is located in rural Kingston. a few kilometres south of the Frontenac County border 

“We had hoped to avoid this contingency at Fairmount but we put the time we had to good use preparing for this to happen,” said Frontenac County CAO, Kelly Pender about the case. “We have plans in place to adapt to the absence of the staff members who are in isolation. We are taking every step to ensure the outbreak is contained, and we’re doing it without compromising the high level of care and respect we expect for our residents.”

Frontenac County asked that the privacy of our Fairmount Home residents and their families be respected as they navigate “this difficult challenge,” and committed to providing more information, “as it becomes available.”

Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Public Health (KLAPH), which tracks all cases under their jurisdiction, has been reluctant to provide details about individuals who have tested positive. They do provide age and gender information, but little else.

On Friday evening (October 9) the Limestone District School Board (LDSB) announced that they had become aware of two cases within the board, both at schools within the City of Kingston.

“One positive case has been identified in a person at Polson Park Public School, and one positive case has been identified in a person at Kingston Collegiate & Vocational Institute,” said an LDSB release.

“In the interests of maintaining privacy, the board will not identify the persons that have received positive COVID-19 tests,” added the release.

Confirmation of two cases in Frontenac County, one in Central Frontenac, and one in South Frontenac, came over the weekend, not through any direct announcement about location, but because the case number of the map on the KFLAPH COIVID case dashboard for Central Frontenac increased from 3 to 4 and the number for South Frontenac has jumped from 10 to 11.The numbers for both townships had stayed the same for at least 31/2 months before this weekend.

KFLAPH announced one new case on October 9, a male in his 30’s. The agency announced 5 new cases on October 10; a male, 9 years or under, close contact with a previously confirmed case, a male 10 - 19 years, close contact, a male, 20 - 29 years source under investigation , a male, 30 - 39 years, close contact, and a male, 50 - 59 years, close contact.

In October 11, they announced two new cases, both females in their 60’s. One case is attributed to close contact, and the other as under investigation.

Finally, one new case was announced for October 12 (thanksgiving Monday), a female in her 50’s, cause under investigation.

The two Frontenac County cases are included in the above announced cases, but the only information that is certain about them is that the Central Frontenac number went to 4 on October 9, and the South Frontenac number went to 11 on October 12.

The dashboard also indicates the good news that there are only 14 active cases in the KFLAPH catchment area. none of those cases requires ventilation, intensive care or  hospitalization. The death toll from COVID-19 in Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington remains at 0 for the entire pandemic.