One resident has died and five others have contracted COVID-19 at a downtown Vancouver assisted living facility, prompting Vancouver Coastal Health to declare an outbreak of the virus.
A staff member at the facility, Cooper Place, has also tested positive, and outbreak precautions — including a suspension of new admissions and all group activities — are now in place.
“Visits to the facility have been suspended until outbreak measures are lifted; with an exception for essential care or compassionate visits at the end of life,” says a Friday statement from VCH.
Cooper Place is a non-profit home operated by the City Centre Care Society, and has 69 beds funded by VCH.
Infection and prevention control measures, says the regional health authority, include enhanced cleaning and disinfection, increased monitoring of staff and residents, quarantining, and regular COVID-19 testing.
The province reported 743 new cases of COVID-19 and seven deaths on Friday. Eighty per cent of eligible residents in the province are now fully vaccinated, add Public Health officials.
In addition to Cooper Place, at least 20 other long-term care, assisted living and independent living facilities in B.C. have active outbreaks, according to the B.C. Health Department’s most recent report, dated Sept. 22.
The highest case count and death toll is at David Lloyd Jones in Kelowna, where the department reported 55 cases and seven deaths linked to the current outbreak.