VANCOUVER -- The second COVID-19 outbreak at a Langley care home has claimed more lives, B.C. health officials said Tuesday.
“The number of cases that we have from Langley Lodge as of today were 43 residents who have been affected and seven staff members, including eight deaths at that facility," said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.
"That reflects transmission within the facility and I know that Fraser Health has been working very hard with the facility to try and make sure that all the provisions they need are put in place but it has been proven to be a very challenging one."
Jo-anne Morris, whose 89-year-old mom is a resident at Langley Lodge, is alarmed at the growing number of cases.
“It just sickens me. This is far from over. It’s far from over in my mom’s care home,” Morris says.
Morris, along with another family who spoke to CTV News, believe there should be an investigation into how a second outbreak happened.
Morris also says she’s frustrated at what she feels has been a lack of communication between the home and worried families.
“When I phoned today, I was told they’re not allowed to tell us anything, that I have to phone management. So when I phoned back, they hesitated and put me through to a voicemail,” she says.
Morris did later receive a call back from the facility, but maintains a better form of communication with families is needed.
CTV reached out to Fraser Health for comment about Langley Lodge, but no one was available. In a written response last week, Fraser Health said since the second outbreak, it has “been working with Langley Lodge to enhance the facility’s infection prevention and control practises to ensure the safety and health of residents and staff.”
The statement says that Fraser Health also actively implements policies including twice-a-day screening of all staff and residents.
Meanwhile, speaking to CTV News by phone, Morris’ mom, Peggy Mason, says she doesn’t fully understand why she is confined to her room. She says she misses her friends in the care facility as well as her family.
“She hates being alone,” her daughter explains. “She loves the nurses on her floor. And she doesn’t understand why she can’t talk to the nurses anymore because they come and go out quickly for safety reasons.”
Peggy says the first thing she will do when she sees her daughters again is kiss them.
For now, she talks to them by phone and waves from her window to her family in the parking lot below.
“I love them more than my life,” says the senior.