COVID-19 outbreak at White Rock care home spreads to 39 people

An outbreak at a care home in White Rock has now spread to nearly 40 people.

A letter sent home to families from Retirement Concepts, which operates White Rock Seniors Village, says 23 residents on the third floor of the building tested positive for COVID-19.

In addition, 16 staff members have also tested positive and they are now in self-isolation.

There is an independent living area in the facility, which so far remains COVID-free.

No friends or family are allowed to visit any of the residents at the home and only essential trips outside are now permitted.

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Health officials have detected COVID-19 at four additional residential care homes.

Fraser Health issued bulletins on Saturday and Sunday, saying that rapid response teams had been deployed to each facility.

Staff members at the Kiwanis Care Centre in New Westminster and the George Derby Centre in Burnaby had tested positive, the health authority said.

A staff member and three residents at Jackman Manor in Aldergrove, and a staff member and one resident at the PICS assisted living facility in Surrey, also tested positive, it said.

As of Friday, more than 12,800 cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed in the Fraser Health region since the start of the pandemic, more than half of B.C.’s nearly 21,000 total cases.

— With files from Simon Little