Vancouver – Five residents are in isolation and one staff member is recovering at home after a troubling Covid-19 outbreak at Vancouver’s Holy Family Hospital.
The outbreak is another indication BC is having trouble protecting residents of senior homes, acute care, and independent living facilities despite a health officer order for staff to work at only one location.
So far 45 major outbreaks have occurred in senior facilities, in acute care areas of hospitals such as Lion’s Gate Hospital where eight died and assisted living settings.
These outbreaks occur generally when staff bring an infection in to senior homes where visitors are not allowed. These outbreaks have killed a very high percentage of seniors in BC’s Covid-19 toll of 168 deaths.
The highest deaths have occurred at Langley Lodge with 24 resident deaths. Another 20 seniors were killed at Lynn Valley Care Centre in North Vancouver and 13 died at Haro Park Lodge in Vancouver’s West End. A total of 5 outbreaks remain from the 45 that occurred.
Seniors have proven to be the most vulnerable group in Canada. The vast majority of 8,049 deaths in Canada have occurred in seniors. The median age of fatalities in BC is 85.
Holy Family said in a statement that Vancouver Coastal Health officer declared an outbreak at the combined rehab and long term care facility on June 9.
- As of June 12 at 11:00 am, one staff member and five residents have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
- There are two separate floors at the Holy Family campus: a 126 long-term care facility, as well as a 65-bed inpatient rehabilitation unit. Thus far, there are no COVID-19 cases in rehab.
- Residents, patients, families and staff have been notified.
- Enhanced control measures were immediately put in place for the entire HFH campus in order to contain the spread and keep residents, patients and staff safe.
One more death was reported in Vancouver Coastal Health on Friday but a spokeswoman for the health district said the person was not a resident of Holy Family.
Although the number of people in hospital in BC remains low, it appears that three more people have been in admitted in recent days. Currently 12 people are in hospital with 3 in ICU. BC has hospitalized 500 people during the pandemic so far.
There were 16 new cases of Covid-19 confirmed on Friday. The number of infections have been low but have risen in last few days.
