Regional update: New Carlisle prison hit hard by outbreak

November 13, 2020 — Holly Smith and Gilles Gagné

There are 30 new cases of COVID-19 in the region. *Four of the new cases are in the Bonaventure MRC, seven in the Rocher-Percé MRC and twenty in the Côte-de-Gaspé MRC.

*One case from the end of October was added to Bonaventure MRC’s total for today.

Public Health states that the difference between provincial and regional statistics can be explained by the rapidly changing situation and that adjustments will be made over the next few days.

CHSLD in Maria (Residence Saint-Joseph) – no longer considered an outbreak: 24 residents and 22 staff members tested positive for COVID-19. Nine residents passed away as a result of Covid-19. Ninety-one residents and nearly 130 employees work there.

Lady Maria (RPA – Private Seniors’ Residence) outbreak

Forty-four residents (stable), and twelve (stable) employees at Lady Maria have tested positive for COVID-19. The Lady Maria residence is home to 130 individuals and nearly 45 employees work there.

CHSLD New Carlisle outbreak

Eighteen employees (stable) and fifteen (stable) residents are affected by this outbreak. Four (stable) residents from the CHSLD New Carlisle have passed away as a result of COVID-19. CHSLD New Carlisle houses 66 residents and employs 118 people.

New Carlisle Correctional Facility

Fourteen inmates and three guards have tested positive for COVID, with many more test results yet to come. The situation was announced by the union representing prison guards, not Quebec’s department of Public Security.

The situation of two of the three guards was known a few days ago and prompted the prison administration to have tests conducted for all the inmates and all the guards. Those tests were carried out on November 12 and partial results were released by the union a day later.

Fifty inmates were housed at the New Carlisle prison when the tests were carried out. Tests were only conducted on two-thirds of the 50 prison guards, says Mathieu Lavoie, president of the Syndicat des agents de la paix en services correctionnels du Québec. He was expecting many more positive tests results.

Five prison guards are on leave as preventive measure to reduce the risk of infection. With the three infected guards already sidelined, Mathieu Lavoie feared a serious shortage of labour at the prison, considering that more positive tests are still expected.

“Apparently, 50 test samples were forgotten in the fridge and were only analyzed today instead of yesterday. So those results are still unavailable as of now. I expect many positive tests in that group.”

Only two of the prison guards’ three teams have been tested because the third team was off during that mid-November period.

“People who have tested positive are regrouped in a common area of the prison,” also remarked Mathieu Lavoie.

Percé Correctional Facility

One (+1) employee at the Percé Correctional Facility has tested positive for COVID-19. So far, the detainees haven’t been affected. All Twenty-eight detainees at the Percé facility have been tested.

Gaspé Hospital outbreak

Nine employees (stable) have tested positive and less than five patients are affected by this outbreak. One patient has passed away as a result of COVID-19.

Manoir St-Augustin outbreak

Sixty-one (+14) residents and twenty-five (+1) employees of Manoir St-Augustin, a private seniors’ residence (RPA) have so far, tested positive for COVID-19. Two (stable) residents have passed away as a result of COVID-19.

Updated List – Réné-Levesque School Service Centre

The Réné-Levesque School Service Centre has confirmed 6 (-1) cases. One (stable) classrooms are presently quarantined.

The educational facilities with positives cases are:

• École Bourg, Carleton-sur-Mer (2 cases)
• Centre de formation professionnelle, Bonaventure (1 case)
• École La Source, Paspébiac (2 cases)
• École polyvalente Mgr Sévigny, Chandler (1 case – 1 classes)

Eastern Shores School Board

The educational facilities with positives cases are:

• Belle Anse Elementary ( 1 case – 1 class) Students return to school November 13.
• Gaspé Polyvalent (7 cases – 3 staff, 4 students – Virtual learning) Situation to be re-evaluated November 13. Four of the cases were transmitted at school, the others are community transmission.
• Gaspé Elementary ( 4 cases – 1 class) Students return to school November 13.

Maria Hospital – no longer considered an outbreak: Ten employees tested positive and no patients were involved in the outbreak.

Chandler Hospital – no longer considered an outbreak: Less than five employees tested positive.

Centre d’hébergement Mgr-Ross – no longer considered an outbreak: Less than 5 employees of the programs and services of the Mgr-Ross in Gaspé tested positive for COVID-19. The CISSS states that this facility has a multifunctional purpose and that the outbreak did not affect the long-term care facility (CHSLD).

Complete portrait

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the Gaspé Peninsula and Magdalen Islands is now 1,193* (+30). Presently, 920 (+5) individuals have recovered. There are 240 (+25) active cases in the region. The total number of deaths is 33 (+1). There are currently 12 (stable) individuals hospitalized.

*One case was added from the end of October, this explains the difference between the total of yesterday (1,162) and today (1,193).

Regional: MRC of Residence

Source: Gaspé Peninsula Public Health Board. n.d.: not disclosed when less than 5 for privacy reasons

The Gaspé Peninsula is at Alert Level 3 – Orange. As of November 6, the Magdalen Islands region has changed to Alert Level 2 – Yellow.

Please consult previous posts for measures related to each Alert Level.

The totals for the province are as follows: 

*Nine deaths occurred in the last 24 hours, one death occurred before November 6, sixteen deaths occurred between November 6 and November 11 and four deaths occurred at an unknown date. One death was removed, it was not COVID-19 related.