Toronto condo residents warned that security staff just tested positive for coronavirus
With 20 cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus now confirmed in Ontario and 45 more potential patients under investigation, Toronto residents are beginning to panic — even while public health officials stress that the virus isn't circulating locally.
The World Health Organization maintains that the risk of infection is low for anyone who is not currently in or has recently visited an area where COVID-19 is spreading.
Those who've come into contact with infected patients, on the other hand, are advised to contact local health professionals and limit their exposure to others.
Imagine how worried one might be, then, to learn that someone working all over their condo building had been freshly diagnosed with the virus.
Warning to those in Scarborough... from r/toronto
This is the case for residents of 4101 Sheppard Ave. E., a 21-storey Scarborough high rise with 326 units in total.
"Attention residents," reads a notice posted in the building that was shared on Reddit early Tuesday.
"York Condominium Corporation No. 289 was very recently informed that one of the onsite security staff (an employee of the third-party security provider) was diagnosed with COVID-19 after having returned from an overseas trop last Sunday (February 23)."
"We are told that he is currently at home in self-isolation, but he was working onsite at the condominium for portions of last week before the diagnosis," continues the notice, which is printed on light red paper.
We are receiving many questions about the novel coronavirus #2019nCoV & are grateful that people are asking us to get informed. We are updating our web info & FAQs as quickly as evidence-based facts are confirmed:https://t.co/l0dtb07kIf
— Toronto Public Health (@TOPublicHealth) February 1, 2020
Management at the condo building say they've "taken appropriate steps" in response to news of the guard's diagnosis, including "performing a disinfection operation in potentially affected areas using a professional emergency response contractor."
The building has since increased cleaning operations in all common areas, including lobbies, elevators, offices and the laundry room.
The condo's management advises anyone in the building with questions about COVID-19 to contact Toronto Public Health.
TPH, which is actively monitoring eight coronavirus patients within the City of Toronto, says it will continue working with provincial and federal health officials to address the situation appropriately.
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