Fraser Health has declared a COVID-19 outbreak at a long-term care facility in Abbotsford, B.C.
In a release, the health authority said one resident at Tabor Home has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and is in self-isolation.
A special response team has been sent in to communicate with residents and families and oversee enhanced cleaning.
Only essential visitors will be allowed. Staff and residents will also be screened twice a day.
According to its website, Tabor Home is described as a complex-care facility with 118 beds.
The outbreak is connected to two others declared in the same 24-48 hours: one at Mission Memorial Hospital and another a Maple Hill, a long-term care facility in Langley.
Dr. Martin Lavoie, chief medical health officer with Fraser Health, said a patient showing no symptoms at first had been transferred from Mission to Maple Hill.
But a few days later, the new Maple Hill resident did start exhibiting symptoms, so staff began testing asymptomatic people associated with the Mission facility.
“At the time, we identified two cases, actually, related to this resident at Maple Hill,” Lavoie said. “Since then, we’ve identified two others.”
Residents who are new to a long-term care home are place in quarantine as a precautionary procedure, he said, so they hope they can contain the spread.
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