Just days after declaring a COVID-19 outbreak at Delilah’s just off Richmond Row, the Middlesex-London Health Unit has declared another outbreak at a separate downtown bar.
On Wednesday, the health unit announced that an outbreak has been declared over five cases connected to Lost Love Social House at 153 Carling St.
“This is the second outbreak we’ve declared in the last four days that has been tied to a downtown bar, where we know people have been gathering without masks and where it is much more difficult to follow public health guidance,” says associate medical officer of health Dr. Alex Summers.
“These situations are particularly challenging as we know that the age groups attending these places have lower vaccination rates and the Delta variant is circulating widely among this demographic. These are the situations where the fourth wave really has the potential to take hold.”
The health unit says five individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 were at Lost Love the night of Saturday, Aug. 7 and into the early morning hours of Sunday, Aug. 8.
Anyone who was at Lost Love at that time is asked to monitor themselves for symptoms, regardless of whether or not they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19. If any symptoms develop, the MLHU urges individuals to visit a COVID-19 assessment centre to get tested.
On Sunday, the MLHU declared an outbreak after 15 patrons of Delilah’s tested positive for COVID-19. The health unit previously said it was notified of three cases associated with the bar at 209 John St. on Friday. The MLHU was notified of 12 more cases on Saturday.
This is not the first time either location has been connected to an outbreak of COVID-19.
In November 2020, the MLHU declared an outbreak at Delilah’s after three staff members tested positive.
Lost Love was among the locations listed in connection with a community outbreak involving Western University students last September.
At that time, the MLHU demonstrated that three households, one night at Lost Love and a few other gatherings were responsible for 15 of the cases associated with the community outbreak.
–With files from Global News’ Kelly Wang.
© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
