A second person at a Coquitlam seniors home has tested positive for COVID-19 — this time a staff member, according to Fraser Health officials.
The health authority first declared an outbreak at Belvedere Care Centre, located at 739 Alderson Ave., Nov. 2 after a single resident tested positive for the virus.
“The resident is currently in self-isolation in their home in long term care,” noted Fraser Health in a press release at the time of the initial outbreak.
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.
It’s not clear how the virus entered the facility.
Several enhanced control measures have been implemented at the site, including enhanced cleaning and infection control, twice-a-day screening, as well as restrictions on the movement of staff and residents inside, and visitors.
Belvedere is one of three seniors and long-term care homes across the Tri-Cities battling an outbreak of COVID-19.
Another outbreak was declared last week at the Port Coquitlam Mayfair Terrace Retirement Residence, but no cases have been found beyond the one resident.
At Hawthorne Seniors Care Community, also in Port Coquitlam, at least 24 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in two separate outbreaks — one in the facility’s long-term care unit where two people have tested positive and another in the assisted living section, where 17 residents and five staff have tested positive with the virus as of Wednesday, Nov. 4.
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.
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.
