An outbreak has been declared at a Coquitlam seniors home after a resident tested positive for COVID-19.
Fraser Health has deployed a rapid response team to the Belvedere Care Centre at 739 Alderson Avenue as residents and their families are informed of the emerging investigation.
“The resident is currently in self-isolation in their home in long term care,” according to a Fraser Health press release.
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.
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.
The outbreak comes the same day Fraser Health reported 18 people had fallen ill with the virus at the Hawthorne Seniors Care Community in Port Coquitlam.
Another outbreak was declared last week at the Port Coquitlam Mayfair Terrace Retirement Residence.
The three Tri-City seniors homes under outbreak protocols represent the first incursions of COVID-19 into the long-term care sector since June 26, when Nicola Lodge declared an end to its outbreak.
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.
