The Renfrew County and District Health Unit says a new positive case of COVID-19 in the Pembroke area has the potential to turn into many more.
The RCDHU issued a statement late Friday afternoon noting that a new laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 had been recorded in the Pembroke area.
However, the health unit said that on further investigation, “there appears to be spread amongst the members within a single-family household.”
“RCDHU is currently conducting extensive family by family contact tracing within the community to evaluate the spread of COVID-19.”
“This is a tightly knit community of over 30 families,” said Dr. Robert Cushman, acting medical officer of health for Renfrew County and District.
“We are taking all precautions to limit spread within the community and to prevent spread throughout Renfrew County and District.”
The health unit said it has directed all families and persons impacted within the community to self-isolate until individual family status, exposure, and risks have been assessed by the contact tracing team at RCDHU.
“We would like to thank the community and their leaders for their full co-operation on this important contact tracing investigation. We are confident that we will have an extensive assessment of the situation today. This will be followed by testing and further investigation over the weekend,” said Cushman.
Overall, Renfrew County and District has had 135 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began earlier this year.
The county was down to zero active cases earlier this week, but is currently reporting two active cases, with both individuals isolating at home.
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