COVID-19 outbreak at Surrey care home, 98 new cases in B.C.

VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) — An eleventh B.C. care home has reported a COVID-19 outbreak this month, while the province recorded another 98 infections and one more death Friday.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Deputy Minister of Health Stephen Brown said in a joint statement Friday there is an outbreak at Peace Portal Seniors Village, a long-term care home in Surrey.

However, the outbreak at Surrey Memorial Hospital is over.

There are 10 long-term care or assisted-living facilities with active outbreaks, and four in acute-care facilities.

KinVillage, the Evergreen Hamlets, OPAL by Element, Yaletown House, Banfield Pavillion, Rideau Retirement Centre, Royal Arch Masonic Home, and a Milieu Children and Family Services Society community living facility have seen outbreaks recently, though, the one at OPAL has since been declared over. Cherington Place and Point Grey Private Hospital also saw outbreaks in September.

NEW #COVID19 LONG TERM CARE OUTBREAK
Peace Portal Seniors Village

Outbreaks OVER at:
Surrey Memorial Hospital

No new acute care outbreaks
Still 14 active outbreaks in care facilities: 10 LTC/ 4 Acute
No new community outbreaks but lots of exposure events

— Lasia Kretzel (@lkretzel1130) September 25, 2020

Active cases have dropped to 1,371, but another 116 people are in isolation after coming into close contact with someone who tested positive for the virus. The total is now 3,533 people under public health monitoring in the province.

With cooler weather on the way, Henry and Brown said it is time to connect less in person and find other, safer ways to stay in touch.

“Stepping back from our social interactions does not mean losing touch. Rather, you can continue to reach out to friends near and far with the many tools we have available to us to connect virtually,” they said.

The province has reached 8,641 total cases since the start of the pandemic, and of those, 7,036 people, 81.4 per cent, have recovered.

1,371 known active COVID-19 cases (-22)
62 in hospital (+1)
19 in ICU (-1)
7,036 fully recovered (81.4% of all recorded cases)
3,533 people under active public health monitoring after coming in close contact with a positive person (+116)

— Lasia Kretzel (@lkretzel1130) September 25, 2020

The number of people in hospital is now 62, with 19 in intensive care. The rest of them are at home in self-isolation.

Hospitalizations have stayed relatively static throughout the week.

While there are no community outbreaks, exposure events still happen and are documented of the BC Centre for Disease Control website. 

BC’s #covid19 update Sep24
1 deaths-239 total
98 new-7036 recovered
Active 1349(1371)
VCH 3127(3094)
FH 4412(4361)
Int 522(520)
Island 204(203)
North 289(278)
Non-res *(87)
Hosp/icu 62/19(61/20)
LTC/Acute 10/4(9/5)
Monitor 3533(3417) #bcpoli @NEWS1130 pic.twitter.com/sZmEXF2Ybc

— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) September 25, 2020

The recent death was in the Vancouver Coastal Health region. So far, 230 people have died from the coronavirus in B.C.

“Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 3,127 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 4,412 in the Fraser Health region, 204 in the Island Health region, 522 in the Interior Health region, 289 in the Northern Health region and 87 cases of people who reside outside of Canada,” Henry and Brown said.