A COVID-19 outbreak at a Port Coquitlam jail and long-term care centre was declared over Monday, but not before the death of one resident.
The death, which occurred between March 2 and March 11, was among six cases at Shaughnessy Care Centre in an outbreak that lasted over a month.
Also on Monday, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said an outbreak at North Fraser Pretrial Centre was officially over after seven weeks.
The outbreak, which was officially declared Jan. 22 and lasting until March 11, led to 37 cases of COVID-19, including 26 inmates and 11 staff members. Nobody died from the virus at the jail.
TARGETED VACCINATIONS
As early as Feb. 15, three days after the Shaughnessy outbreak was declared, 34 of the facility’s 37 residents (92%) had been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Like prisons, the crowded, indoor settings up the risk of transmission, but so too does a regular influx of new residents to the communal living environment.
According to a spokesperson from Fraser Health, inmates and health care staff at North Fraser Pretrial Centre were targeted for vaccination at the beginning of February.
But as the outbreak continued, health workers expanded who was ultimately eligible for a vaccine at the jail.
WHY ARE SENIORS GETTING BUMPED FOR YOUNGER WORKERS, INMATES?
Health authorities across the province have increasingly rolled out vaccination clinics at the site of COVID-19 clusters and outbreaks. Over the weekend, that logic extended to employees at a Port Coquitlam Costco where “a significant cluster” of cases was discovered.
After inmates and health care workers were vaccinated at the North Fraser Pretrial Centre last month, several BC Corrections staff received any unused COVID-19 doses that hadn’t already been administered.
“When an immunization clinic concludes for the day, any remaining doses of the COVID-19 vaccine must be used, as once the doses are reconstituted, they cannot be put back in storage,” explained a spokesperson for Fraser Health.
BC Corrections staff were targeted themselves earlier this month in a vaccination campaign designed to stamp out the outbreak.
