COVID-19 outbreak at Kelowna’s Cottonwoods Care Centre claims life

One person has died in connection with a COVID-19 outbreak at Cottonwoods Care Centre on Ethel Street in Kelowna, according to Interior Health.

The health authority (IHA) said the outbreak, which was declared on March 7, has affected 25 residents and three staff members.

Interior Health did not specify if the connected death was a staff member or a resident.

Staff at the 221-bed facility had been offered a vaccine by mid-February, according to the IHA.

But at the onset of the outbreak, only 65 per cent of workers at the IHA-run care centre had received one vaccine dose.

Patients at Cottonwoods Care Centre include long-term residents and patients transferred from Kelowna General Hospital who are in need of extended recovery care.