Vancouver –
Four more care homes in B.C.’s Lower Mainland are grappling with COVID-19 outbreaks, despite visitor restrictions that have left many residents isolated from their loved ones.
Health officials announced the latest outbreaks at Morgan Place, Maple Ridge Seniors Village, Dania Home and Amica White Rock on Monday afternoon.
A total of 33 residents and 25 employees have tested positive across the four facilities.
Dania Home, a long-term care facility in Burnaby that’s owned and operated by Dania Home Society, has recorded the highest number of cases so far, with 27 confirmed COVID-19 infections among residents and staff.
Maple Ridge Seniors Village and Amica White Rock have recorded 12 cases each, while eight people have tested positive at Morgan Place.
“The residents and staff members are currently in self-isolation at their homes,” Fraser Health said in a news release. “Staff and residents movement in the affected areas of the (facilities have) been modified to minimize exposure to others.”
The health authority said employees and residents are being screened for COVID-19 twice daily, and that enhanced infection control measures have been implemented at every impacted care home. Essential visits are still allowed.
Late last month, B.C. health officials announced a ban on non-essential visitors in long-term care facilities, citing the unprecedented levels of COVID-19 transmission still taking place across the province.
The decision has prompted pushback from the industry and advocates, who argue the government’s definition of “essential” is far too limited. Of the approximately 33,000 long-term care residents in the province, only 26 per cent had a designated essential visitor prior to the latest restrictions being implemented.
“Every resident of long-term care deserves at least one visitor, period,” Terry Lake of the B.C. Care Providers’ Association said last week.
But the Omicron wave of COVID-19 cases has resulted in a new surge in health-care facility outbreaks. There were 38 active outbreaks across the system as of the last total provided by B.C.’s Ministry of Health on Friday afternoon, and at least six more have been declared since then.
Another outbreak, at the Guildford Seniors Village in Surrey, was declared over on Monday.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has said it was always the government’s plan to eventually allow one “designated social visitor” per resident in care homes, in addition to essential visitors.
The timeline for doing so will depend on when facilities can begin using rapid antigen testing, Henry said.
