A second resident of a Burnaby care home has now died and the number of cases in the home has risen to 14.
New Vista Care Home on Rosewood Street has been dealing with an outbreak that started with a staff member.
According to an email sent to families of New Vista residents, there are now eight residents and six staff members who have tested positive for COVID-19.
The email says that two residents have now died from COVID-19.
“Five residents with COVID are being cared for by our clinical team in an isolation area,” says the email. “One resident remains in hospital and sadly we had two residents pass away. One staff member has recovered and is back to work based on clearance from disease control experts in the health authority. At the direction of Fraser Health (FHA) we have tested 200-plus residents and staff, with the vast majority of tests coming back negative.
“Based on direction from FHA, all residents are taking meals in their rooms and have been isolated from other residents. Any essential visitations to the Care Home, except in cases where residents are palliative, remain suspended until further notice. Any visitor for residents that are palliative will be screened and asked to wear PPE. These measures are in place to keep residents and families safe. The timetable for when these restrictions can be re-considered is mid-September at the earliest and we ask and thank-you for your cooperation.”
The latest positive cases follow three other “outbreaks” – the term used by Fraser Health – at Burnaby care homes. A resident of Burnaby’s George Derby Centre tested positive for COVID-19 recently, and staff at Burnaby’s Derby Manor and Dania Home have also tested positive in the few weeks. One worker at Stay Fresh in Metropolis at Metrotown tested positive and that store has been closed temporarily. Read more about that here.
While exactly 200 people have died from COVID-19 since the virus that spawned a global pandemic appeared in B.C. in late January, the pace of new deaths has slowed down.
It took 88 days for B.C. to go from recording its first case of the virus on January 28 to 100 deaths on April 25. It then has taken 117 days for the province to get to the 200-death threshold.
The five deaths so far in August followed:
• 24 in March;
• 87 in April;
• 53 in May;
• 10 in June; and
• 21 in July
B.C. recorded 80 new COVID-19 infections on August 20, bringing the total number of people who have been afflicted to 4,825.
The breakdown of COVID-19 infections by health region is:
• 1,526 in Vancouver Coastal Health (up 38);
• 2,533 in Fraser Health (up 40);
• 159 in Island Health (up one);
• 411 in Interior Health (no change);
• 121 in Northern Health (up one); and
• 75 people who reside outside Canada (no change).
For the first time since July 30, the number of recoveries is outpacing the number of new infections. There were 96 people who have recovered from the disease in the past 24 hours, making the total number of recoveries from the virus at 3,845. That, plus the two deaths, mean that there are now 780 people actively battling COVID-19 in B.C. – down 18 from yesterday.
- With files from Glen Korstrom, Business in Vancouver
