MINDSville Disability Home At Hougang Reports 27 Covid-19 Cases Among Residents & Staff
Singapore has seen several new clusters during this new wave of Covid-19 infections, including significantly large ones at Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Changi Airport.
On Wednesday (2 Jun), MOH reported a new cluster at MINDSville @ Napiri – a disability home in Hougang – with 5 confirmed cases and another 22 which are pending verification.
The remaining residents and staff have since been placed on quarantine.
MINDSville cluster includes 22 who tested preliminarily positive
According to MOH records, the first patient to test positive from the cluster was Case 63924, a 37-year-old resident at the home who was an unlinked case reported on 1 Jun.
She started having symptoms on 29 May and tested positive on Monday (31 May).
In a daily update on Wednesday (2 Jun), MOH reported another 4 other cases linked to the MINDSville cluster:
- 63949 — a 30-year-old staff
- 63950 — a 55-year-old resident
- 63961 — a 64-year-old resident
- 63962 — a 47-year-old resident
All 4 individuals had received both doses of the vaccine but displayed symptoms of infection.
Tests on all staff and residents following the first case surfaced 22 more individuals from the home who tested preliminarily positive for Covid-19.
Pending their verification, MOH will reportedly include them in the case count later today (3 Jun).
Of the 27 cases, 23 are residents while 4 are staff members. Authorities detected most of the cases through proactive testing.
Home implements measures to protect staff & residents
Following confirmation of the first case, MINDSville had implemented additional measures such as separating residents into cohorts and splitting staff into teams.
All 255 residents and staff members have also been tested and placed on quarantine. Other close contacts such as clients, visitors, and vendors have been isolated.
The home has also stopped admitting and discharging residents. They’ve also suspended visitations since 1 Jun.
According to the Ministry of Social & Family Development (MSF), more than 90% of staff and residents had received their vaccines earlier this year. We hope this translates to less severe infections for those who tested positive.
Hope cluster will be ringfenced soon
It’s certainly worrying that such a large cluster has formed in one of our care homes.
Since efforts were already in place to ringfence transmissions, we hope that the cluster won’t grow much further.
In the meantime, we wish the staff and residents well and hope they’ll make a smooth recovery.
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