B.C. health officials have announced six new cases of coronavirus in the province, including two connected to a seniors care home in North Vancouver.
During a press conference Saturday morning, chief medical health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and provincial Health Minister Adrian Dix specified that a previously announced case of COVID-19 included a health-care worker at the Lynn Valley Care Centre, a long-term care facility that’s home to approximately 200 residents.
That health-care worker, a woman in her 50s with no recent travel history, was identified recently as the province’s first-known community transmission case of coronavirus.
Two additional COVID-19 cases involving elderly residents of the care centre were announced Saturday.
“The last two cases really are the most concerning to us,” said Henry. “The team from Vancouver Coastal Health has been on site at the centre for the last couple of days doing a detailed assessment of all of the staff, the residents and the family.”
While Henry said it remains unclear whether the two residents in the care centre became ill due to the infected health-care worker or whether all three were exposed by someone else, she was direct when referring to the coronavirus cases at the facility as an “outbreak.”
Vancouver Coastal Health is currently investigating the situation and whether the outbreak is confined to a single unit in the care home or is more widespread throughout the facility.
Nevertheless, Henry stressed that appropriate protocols were being taken, including restricting visitors to the centre and implementing infection control precautions for all staff and residents.
“We will be curtailing the number of people who move in and out and making sure that we are able to address this as swiftly and thoroughly as we possibly can,” she said.
Henry said the North Vancouver cases were particularly worrisome because seniors and older adults, especially ones with other health issues, were more at risk than the rest of the population.
An outbreak alert poster was visible at the front entrance of the care centre Saturday afternoon, which instructed people to: refrain from visiting the centre if they’d recently travelled to a number of listed countries; cleaning their hands with hand sanitizer when arriving and leaving the facility; and signing in when visiting.
Speaking more broadly about COVID-19, Henry stressed that many exposures have resulted from community gatherings, such as religious gatherings and other group activities, and that it might be time to curtail certain events.
“At this time I am asking people to consider having virtual gatherings, to consider not coming together, particularly if you have people in your gathering who are elderly,” said Henry, who appeared visibly shaken up at times when speaking.
On the North Shore, several schools have cancelled school trips to international destinations and this weekend several Norouz celebrations for the Iranian New Year were cancelled.
In addition to the two residents of Lynn Valley Care Centre, four other cases were announced during Saturday’s press conference. A man and a woman, both in their 50s, who reside in the Fraser Health region and who recently returned from a trip to Iran, as well as a man and a woman, both in their 60s, who were recently passengers on the Grand Princess cruise ship and also reside in the Fraser Health region, have tested positive for the coronavirus.
There are currently 27 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the province.
Both Henry and Dix stressed how important it was for people to take proper precautions if they didn't feel well.
“I’ll stay it one more time: if you’re sick, stay home,” said Dix.
