TORONTO -- Toronto Public Health now confirms that 12 of its employees have contracted COVID-19.
Eleven of the infected staff members work out of the building at 277 Victoria Street building, located near Dundas Street East and Yonge Street.
Ten of those staff members were part of a “cluster” of employees who contracted the virus in March, Toronto Public Health spokesperson Lenore Bromley confirmed to CP24 on Friday.
One employee at the Victoria Street building tested positive for the virus earlier this week and one employee at Metro Hall has also contracted the virus, Bromley confirmed.
“Given that COVID-19 is spreading in our community, this is not unexpected, and we were prepared for this unfortunate situation,” Bromley said in a written statement.
“As we did for the cases linked to 277 Victoria Street, for the case at Metro Hall, we carefully assessed this situation immediately, the potential health risk to our team, and provided instructions directly to this person and their close contacts.”
She added that the infected staff member at Metro Hall is not currently working at the facility and nine other employees have been sent have been sent home as a precaution.
“Physical distancing has been maintained at this workplace setting the whole time that our staff were working in this building,” Bromley added.
“The staff who worked in the same space as the COVID-19 individual were asked to home-isolate as a precaution even though they maintained physical distancing in the workspace. They do not have COVID-19 symptoms.”
Bromley noted that the virus continues to circulate in Toronto and approximately 30 per cent of all Toronto cases have been attributed to community spread.
“This is why it is so important for as many of us as possible to stay home. This is the only way we will reduce the spread of this virus in our community so that we can protect our essential workers and minimize the loss of life,” her statement concluded.
As of 5 p.m. Friday, there are 1,891 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Toronto, according to the city’s latest data.
An estimated 177 people infected with the virus are in hospital and 77 people have died so far.
