Nearly 100% of residents at Coquitlam care facility received booster shot before COVID-19 outbreak

Fraser Health confirms to the Tri-City News almost every resident of Dufferin Care Centre has received a booster vaccine dose against COVID-19.

As of Oct. 29, 2021, spokesperson Curtis Harling says 98 per cent of the Coquitlam retirement community has been jabbed a third time.

The date marks nearly two weeks before Dufferin was placed under a COVID-19 outbreak on Nov. 10.

Since the declaration's first implementation — and as of Monday (Nov. 15) — seven known lab-confirmed cases of the virus have been detected, including five residents and two staff members.

This is the third COVID-19 outbreak at Dufferin in two years.

A total of six people have died due to complications with the virus, four were during the first outbreak among 24 total infections found when it was declared over in May 2020 — the largest outbreak of the virus at the time across the Tri-Cities and lasted for two months.

The second outbreak lasted for a month ending in April 2021, but resulted in the deaths of two residents and 16 total cases of COVID-19.

Harling adds booster shots have been offered to everyone in long-term care and assisted living in the Fraser Health authority's region since October. 

As of this publication (Nov. 17), the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) is reporting an 89.4 per cent double-vaccination average against COVID-19 among eligible Tri-City residents aged 50 and older.

The age group is currently at a 91.4 per cent single-dose average. 

Fraser Health says it's implementing enhanced control measures at Dufferin Care Centre, which is also set to help find anyone else who may have been exposed, including residents, staff and extended family members.

The health measures are as follows: 

• Staffing levels are being supported to maintain resident care
• Social visits are restricted in the affected areas of the facility 
  • Fraser Health says essential visits can continue
• Staff and residents movement in the affected areas of the facility has been modified to minimize exposure to others
• Cleaning and infection control measures have been further enhanced
• Residents, families and staff are being notified
• Twice a day screening of all staff and residents is taking place
• Additional testing and screening is in place to support monitoring of disease control

Dufferin Care Centre is a Coquitlam long-term facility owned and operated by Retirement Concepts.