MONTREAL -- A Laurentian retirement home is the site of a COVID-19 outbreak that has claimed the life of at least one person.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the regional health authority acknowledged they were monitoring the outbreak in St-Jerome's Verger Residence.
According to the health authority, they were informed on Aug. 27 that a staff member had tested positive for the virus during a screening.
Since then, five more employees have tested positive and one resident has died.
In total, 19 Verger residents have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, with nine of those coming since Saturday, according to Quebec government data. The residence was also home to one other death from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
The health authority said that an evacuation of the residence was held on Sept. 1 due to a fire alarm and that social distancing and mask wearing was not respected, which may have contributed to the spread.
A second COVID-19 screening was held for staff and residents on Sept. 4.
Quebec's retirement homes and long-term care facilities were the scenes of many major outbreaks during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, though the numbers of confirmed in most have dropped enormously over the past few months.
