A second Port Coquitlam seniors care home in as many days has reported an outbreak of COVID-19 — this time at the Hawthorne Seniors Care Community.
Fraser Health declared an outbreak at the 2111 Hawthorne Avenue facility after a single staff member tested positive for the coronavirus. On Thursday, the health authority declared an outbreak at Mayfair Terrace Retirement Residence after a resident was reported to have tested positive.
The two sites sit less than 300 metres away from one another.
Fraser Health said it is working with staff to investigate if anyone else has been exposed at the site. Among other enhanced control measures, the health authority has restricted visitors, staff and resident movement in the facility and implemented twice a day screening of staff and residents.
Health care settings — including senior and long-term care homes — require only a single case of COVID-19 for public health to declare an outbreak, a status that unlocks a ramped up response.
Roughly 52% of deaths in B.C. and 77% of deaths across Canada due to COVID-19 have been linked to the long-term care sector.
This is the second outbreak in a Tri-Cities care home since the Nicola Lodge care home in Port Coquitlam declared an end to its outbreak on June 26.
Earlier in the pandemic, Dufferin Care Centre in Coquitlam suffered nearly two dozen cases, including four deaths, and Shaughnessy Care Centre in Port Coquitlam declared its outbreak over in April, but not before the novel coronavirus took one resident’s life and infected three others.
