Kelowna long-term care home loses another resident to COVID-19

A persistent COVID-19 outbreak at a Kelowna long-term care facility has taken another life.

Cottonwoods Care Centre has now had 13 COVID-19 related deaths, according to the latest information from Interior Health. That’s an increase of one since the weekend.

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The number of people affected by the outbreak that started on Aug. 4 has held steady in recent weeks, with 67 cases involving 52 residents and 15 staff.

At the peak of the fourth wave hitting Kelowna, seven care homes were listed for having COVID-19 outbreaks. All but Cottonwoods have fallen off the list.

Interior Health’s medical health officer Dr. Silvina Mema said earlier this month that the outbreak was expected to go well into October, if not November, because more cases kept being reported.

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Cottonwoods, Mema said, has been a particularly challenging facility at which to keep the virus at bay because of the aging structure, shared rooms and the population of dementia patients.

“The layout of Cottonwoods is one of those facilities that was built many years ago, so there isn’t a separation between units that would allow us to separate completely,” she said.

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Breakthrough cases are still occurring despite high vaccination rates among residents, she added.

On Monday, B.C. health officials reported 26 more people had died of COVID-19 over the weekend, for a total of 2,081. Of the latest deaths, five were in the Interior Health region.

-with files from Klaudia Van Emmerik