VANCOUVER -- The COVID-19 outbreak at Haro Park long-term care home in Vancouver's West End is now officially over.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced the end of the outbreak during her briefing on the province's response to the coronavirus pandemic on Saturday, saying she was "extremely pleased" that the outbreak is now over.
Henry described the Haro Park outbreak as one of British Columbia's "first and most difficult care facility outbreaks."
"We know that residents were severely impacted by COVID-19 very early on in our pandemic, so this is very good news," the provincial health officer said. "I'm relieved and I want to express my gratitude and our thanks to all of the care teams who worked in Haro Park."
The first case at the facility was detected in a resident and announced on March 18. From there, infections quickly grew in number, with more than 40 residents eventually contracting the virus.
Eleven residents of Haro Park died from COVID-19, making it one of the deadliest care-home outbreaks in the province.
The facility announced on May 1 that all surviving residents and staff members who had tested positive for the virus were recovered, but outbreak protocols remained in place for two more two-week virus incubation periods.
Those two periods passed without any new cases of COVID-19 being detected, prompting officials to announce the end of the outbreak Saturday.
Another facility - Evergreen House in North Vancouver - also saw the official end of its coronavirus outbreak on Saturday, but there are still 13 long-term care and assisted-living homes in the province with ongoing outbreaks, Henry said.
