Coronavirus: Outbreak declared at Okanagan long-term care facility

Public health officials say a single case of COVID-19 has been confirmed at an Okanagan long-term care facility.

On Thursday, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the single case was identified at Hawthorn Park Retirement Residence in Kelowna.

“We’ve declared an outbreak in two facilities, they are both connected, Hawthorn Park is an assisted living and Orchard Manor is long-term care,” said Dr. Silivina Mema, Interior Health’s medical health officer.

“Outbreak protocols have been implemented at that facility,” said Henry.

Interior Health outbreak protocols are:

• restricting movement of staff and residents within the facility
• increased cleaning and infection controls measures
• daily symptom screening of staff and residents

The Interior Health Authority (IHA) said “an outbreak has been declared at Hawthorn Park and Orchard Manor Community of Care after a staff member was diagnosed with COVID-19.”

It added that “the staff member is in self-isolation at home. No residents have been affected to date.”

“We could say there were some face-to-face contact.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We could say there were some face-to-face contact."

Dr. Mema wants to be clear: “We are doing daily symptom checks, for both residents and staff.”

1:50 Coronavirus vaccine reality check

IHA adds that the two sites are connected by a common building and together the facility includes 161 beds, none of which are health authority funded.

“The outbreak is declared for the full campus of care. Interior Health and the operator, Verve Senior Living, are taking steps to protect the health of everyone at Hawthorn Park and Orchard Manor,” said Interior Health.

“Communication with residents and families is underway and there are dedicated staff resources at the site responding to questions from residents, families and staff.”

Henry also announced there were 156 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Interior Health region, up from 153 on Wednesday.

She also said, overall, there were 29 new test-positive cases in B.C., pushing the provincial total to 1,824. There were also four new deaths, bringing B.C.’s total to 94.

2:03 More people in Interior Health region getting tested for COVID-19 to fight community spread

Henry noted that there are now 347 cases in long-term care, acute care or assisted-living facilities throughout B.C. — 217 patients and 130 staff.

She added that 10 long-term care facility outbreaks in the province are now over, with no new cases being reported for two incubation periods.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases elsewhere throughout B.C:

1. Vancouver Coastal region: 755
2. Fraser region: 760
3. Vancouver Island region: 111
4. Northern B.C.: 42

Henry also said there are 1,079 people in B.C. who have fully recovered from the virus, up from 1,041 on Tuesday.

According to a website tracking COVID-19, there were 2,699,338 cases as of 3 p.m., on Thursday.

The U.S. had the most cases at 864,415, and was followed by Spain (213,024), Italy (189,973), France (159,460) and Germany (151,784). Canada was 12th at 42,936.

2:22 Salvation Army in Central Okanagan seeing spike in people accessing its services

• Salvation Army in Central Okanagan seeing spike in people accessing its services
• ‘Hopefully we can just cheer them up’: classical singers perform from street for Vernon seniors
• Longtime care aides at Okanagan long term care facilities say working during the pandemic has the been most stressful and difficult time of their careers

Previous Video

Next Video