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A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at a Matachewan mine site.
According to the Timiskaming Health Unit, three employees at Alamos Gold's Young-Davidson Mine have tested positive. All three people live outside of the health unit area.
"The Timiskaming Health Unit has been working closely with mine management to ensure all necessary contact tracing is being completed. The mine's management is taking all the necessary precautions to reduce the risk of infection and prevent the transmission of COVID-19," reads the news release.
The situation is under investigation. People who are close contacts of a positive case already have been, or will be, contacted by public health.
"Everyone involved in this investigation has provided valuable support," said Dr. Glenn Corneil, THU acting medical officer of health and CEO.
"COVID-19 can appear quickly in an area at any given time and everyone needs to remain vigilant in order to ensure we do everything we cant o reduce the spread of COVID-19."
Outbreaks can be declared if two or more employees with a confirmed connection test positive for the virus.
While there have been cases at other mines in the region, the first outbreak at a northeastern Ontario mine was at Glencore Kidd Mine in Timmins in September.
In northwestern Ontario, Lac d'Iles Mine shut down most operations in early April after workers began testing positive for COVID-19. There were a total of 25 confirmed cases in mine workers who exhibited symptoms between April 3 and April 20.
One person passed away due to complications from the virus. He had pre-existing health conditions.
Mining operations resumed in late May. Last month, two more employees at the Lac d'Iles site tested positive but an outbreak wasn't declared.
To date, there have been 17 confirmed cases of the virus in the Timiskaming Health Unit region. All of those are recovered. Because these cases are people with permanent addresses outside the region, the cases will not be added to the local count.
– TimminsToday
