An outbreak of COVID-19 at a Port Coquitlam seniors home has claimed its first life as cases continue to climb.
The two outbreaks at the Hawthorne Seniors Care Community now have a combined total of 32 positive cases, confirmed a spokesperson from Fraser Health. That includes 20 residents and seven staff in an outbreak declared Oct. 30 in the facility’s assisted living section, and two staff and three residents in a separate outbreak declared Nov. 3 in the residence’s long-term care section.
“What we’re seeing in our independent and assisted living, and in our long-term care facilities, just as what we’re seeing in our schools, reflects the number of cases in the community,” Fraser Health deputy medical health officer Dr. Elizabeth Brodkin told the Tri-City News last week in response to questions over how staff continued to introduce the virus into care homes.
But the fact that loved ones are catching COVID-19 despite visitation restrictions and heightened safety protocols is cold comfort for some.
Port Coquitlam resident Leonard Smith said his father, Alvin, tested positive for the virus only days after completing a 14-day quarantine required for being allowed to leave the assisted living facility to attend his wife’s funeral.
“It doesn’t make sense, he comes out of quarantine and gets COVID-19,” the son, Leonard, told the Tri-City News.
The son is calling on health officials to ease visitor restrictions even as the virus rages inside the facility.
“As a family member, you believe in stringent protocols to allow people into the facility," he said. "[But] when it’s brought in by a staff member, what’s the point of the protocols? It’s just stopping visitors to see their relatives.”
It’s a sentiment echoed last week by B.C. seniors’ advocate Isobel MacKenzie, who in releasing new survey data warned seniors across the province now fear dying of loneliness more than COVID-19.
Across the province, 32 assisted living and long-term care homes are battling outbreaks of COVID-19, including Mayfair Terrace Retirement Residence — another Port Coquitlam seniors home less than 300 metres away from Hawthorne — and Belvedere Care Centre in Coquitlam.
To date, roughly 49% of deaths in B.C. and 76% of deaths across Canada due to COVID-19 have been linked to the seniors care sector.
