Bobcaygeon’s beleaguered Pinecrest Nursing Home has gotten a break this week, as administrator Mary Carr reports once again there have been no recent deaths due to COVID-19.

“We continue to believe that we have turned a corner and that many of our residents who had previously been ill or tested positive for COVID are now doing much better,” says Carr in a media release.

While Pinecrest remains hopeful that there are better days ahead, Kawartha Lakes as a whole is also holding steady with its infection rate numbers. There were 109 cases announced just more than a week ago and today that number remains the same, according to a recent report published by the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit.

A full 79 of Kawartha Lakes’ cases are from the outbreak at Pinecrest, while there have been 30 community cases.

The Advocate asked Chandra Tremblay, the local health unit’s spokesperson, if these numbers could be broken down by communities within Kawartha Lakes.

“The health unit will only report on the county in which a person confirmed to have COVID-19 resides. We have many small communities in our area and we want to protect the privacy of individuals,” says Tremblay.

Tremblay says since the health unit is seeing community transmission of COVID-19 now, “rather than just travel-related cases we all need to assume the virus is circulating in our community.”

“This means it is even more important that people follow all of the public health measures designed to help stop the spread of the virus,” she says, such as staying home, physical distancing, washing hands, and using good cough and sneeze etiquette.

At Pinecrest, Carr says that today, following protocols from public health, “we will take some residents for walks.”

“This is positive news after a very challenging time. We’re not out of the woods yet, but these are very encouraging signs.”