Summerside’s Wedgewood Manor has now reported a facility-wide outbreak of respiratory illness caused by the virus known as RSV.
An outbreak of respiratory syncytial virus had been reported Tuesday, affecting just one household in the mansion, the Country Household. As long as the larger outbreak continues, each resident at the 76-bed facility can only have three care partners, with only one present at a time.
Group activities within Wedgewood Manor have been cancelled, residents are not able to mingle freely and staff are not rotating from group to group.
Tara Ferguson, Health PEI’s provincial manager of infection prevention and control, said “less than 15” residents have tested positive for RSV or were showing symptoms of RSV. It is characterized by a cough, fever and runny nose similar to the signs of COVID-19 or influenza.
Those residents had been “isolated as a precaution,” she said.
“It’s like any respiratory disease. They affect everyone differently,” Ferguson said. “Our older people are at higher risk if they get respiratory diseases, so this can have negative consequences, which is why we want to contain the transmission as quickly as possible.”
Ferguson said visitor restrictions will remain in place until the outbreak is declared over.
“Our goal is 10 days without transmission and so we try to have 10 days where we don’t have any new positive cases. And that’s usually our sign that we’ve stopped the spread so we can release our actions.”
We are blessed at PEI to have extremely dedicated and hardworking employees and every time we have an outbreak situation they rise to the occasion. – Tara Ferguson
She said outbreaks of RSV are not common among seniors on the island, calling this outbreak a reminder that people should stay home if they are unwell and continue to practice good hand hygiene.
“We are blessed at PEI to have extremely dedicated and hardworking employees, and whenever we have an outbreak situation, they rise to the occasion,” added Ferguson.
“While they’re tired, like all healthcare workers across the country, they still come to work, they still give their 110 percent — and I’ll be eternally grateful for that.”
