3 more outbreaks at B.C. care homes as province rolls out COVID-19 booster shots
Three new outbreaks of COVID-19 have been declared at care homes in the Lower Mainland this weekend.
On Saturday, Vancouver Coastal Health announced that two residents of Amica Lions Gate in West Vancouver had tested positive for the coronavirus.
The private care facility is owned and operated by Amica Senior Lifestyles, but the health authority is assisting with its outbreak response.
Then, on Sunday, Fraser Health announced new outbreaks at Heritage Village in Chilliwack and Queen's Park Care Centre in New Westminster.
Both facilities are owned and operated by Fraser Health.
One resident and one staff member at Heritage Village and two residents at Queen's Park have tested positive.
All three care homes are now closed to admissions, and enhanced infection control measures have been put in place at each location.
This is the first time an outbreak has been declared at Amica Lions Gate.
Heritage Village saw a COVID-19 outbreak declared on Aug. 17 of this year. It ended a few weeks later on Sept. 4. According to data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, five people tested positive during that outbreak, four of them staff members. No deaths were associated with the outbreak.
Queen's Park Care Centre is now on its third outbreak of the pandemic, having seen a single staff member test positive in October 2020 during its first and 14 cases - 10 residents and four staff - during its second outbreak in November of that year. Four residents died during the second outbreak, according to the BCCDC.
The latest outbreaks bring B.C.'s total to at least 22. There were 19 ongoing outbreaks in the province's health-care system as of Friday.
The outbreaks come as B.C. rolls out booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines for care home residents, and as the death toll from a major outbreak in Burnaby increases.
As of last week, 90 people associated with Willingdon Care Centre - 69 residents and 21 staff members - had tested positive.
On Thursday, Health Minister Adrian Dix called the outbreak the "most significant" in the province, and noted that at least 10 deaths had been recorded.
"That's a significant tragedy at the Willingdon Care Centre and for everyone involved there," Dix said. "What that tells us is all the steps that (provincial health officer) Dr. (Bonnie) Henry has described are needed to continue to protect long-term care."
Those steps, according to Henry, include booster shots for residents, vaccine mandates for staff and visitors, and non-immunization precautions such as masks, distancing and avoiding large gatherings in close proximity with others.
Willingdon Care Centre has 95 beds, according to the Fraser Health website, meaning more than 70 per cent of residents are infected.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.