‘We’re finding lunchrooms can be a problem’: Simcoe-Muskoka workers letting COVID-19 guard down during breaks

Admit it. You may be getting a bit too close to your work colleagues on lunch break.

Well, those lunchroom interactions may be putting you at higher risk of contracting COVID-19. Whether it’s letting your guard down for a chat, or employers providing inadequate personal protective equipment and hand-washing stations, workplaces throughout the Simcoe-Muskoka region are becoming a major source of transmission.

Right now, there are 12 active outbreaks in the region — at long-term-care and educational facilities (three each), retirement homes and workplaces (two each), and congregate and community sites (one each). Businesses currently affected by outbreaks include two manufacturing plants, a hair salon and a child-care centre, all located in Barrie. 

“Our cases have been driven by work environments, household clusters and social contacts,” Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit medical officer of health Dr. Charles Gardner told reporters during a teleconference Nov. 10. “We’re finding lunchrooms can be a problem. People are distancing appropriately on the job, but then they can let down their guard when they go to the lunchroom. It’s really key employers and employees think through their work environment. (This is) based on our experience with outbreaks — the school exposures, the workplace manufacturing locations (and) the congregate settings.”

Many companies can do a better job of allowing employees to work remotely. If staff need to come into the office, physical distancing, staggered lunch breaks, symptom screening and one-way hallways and aisles should be enforced. There must also be easy access to hand sanitizer or washing stations, he said.   

If sharing a vehicle for work-related travel, keep a window partially open and wear a mask, Gardner said.

But there’s also evidence people are going to work and school while showing clear symptoms of the virus, he said.

“Those exposures have a big impact on people who end up having to go into isolation,” Gardner said.

On Tuesday, the health unit reported 17 new cases of the virus.

Of these, nine are in Barrie. Bradford (three) and Clearview, Essa, Innisfil, New Tecumseth and Orillia (one each) also have cases.

Eight people are 17 years of age or under — four in Barrie, three in Bradford and one in Essa. Everyone else is between 18 and 64 years old.

One case, involving a 35- to 44-year-old Barrie woman, is linked to a workplace outbreak. The source of infection in 11 incidents is still under investigation. The other cases were transmitted through “close contact” and community acquisition, Gardner said.

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 1,560 local cases, though 1,360 people have successfully recovered. At the current rate of transmission, the region would hit 3,000 cases by early January, he said.

There are 143 known active incidents, including eight hospitalizations.

Fifty residents with COVID-19 have died, 34 of whom were living in long-term-care and retirement facilities.

The region’s active outbreaks include cohorts at Bradford District High School (three students) and Barrie’s Hillcrest Public School (two students). 

Long-term-care sites operating under outbreak protocols are Beeton’s Simcoe Manor (43 residents, 32 staff), the Baldwin Lane unit at Barrie’s IOOF Odd Fellow and Rebekah Home (one employee), and Collingwood’s Sunset Manor (one worker). Two Barrie retirement homes, Waterford (one resident) and Allandale Station (three residents, two staff), have declared outbreaks in recent days.

Also Tuesday, two Angus schools were linked to COVID-19 cases. Nottawasaga Pines Secondary School and Our Lady of Grace Catholic School each closed a classroom after a single incident was connected to their facilities.

The health unit will not post an updated case count on Nov. 11, due to Remembrance Day.

For more information on the local effect of COVID-19, visit .