COVID-19 outbreaks at two West Kootenay long-term care facilities have grown this week.
More than half of the residents at Poplar Ridge Pavilion in Trail have been infected with COVID-19 as Interior Health (IH) is reporting 26 resident and five staff cases as of Monday. The outbreak was initially declared on Jan. 26.
IH is also reporting one death connected to the outbreak at Poplar Ridge.
Castleview Care Centre in Castlegar now has 13 resident and two staff cases as of Monday. This outbreak was initially declared on Jan. 31.
IH says, “Given the prevalence of Omicron in our communities, it’s safe to assume these cases are the Omicron variant.”
Castlegar News asked IH if the Poplar Ridge death was from COVID-19.
IH sent the following reply: “We can’t speak to individual cases, but the majority of individuals in long-term care are elderly and frail with complex medical conditions that make them more susceptible to COVID-19, flu and other illness.”
Meanwhile, an outbreak at Crestview Village in Creston with 18 resident cases and 14 staff cases has now been declared over.
According to the BCCDC, a person is included in a facility outbreak case count if they developed COVID-19 associated signs and symptoms more than 10 days after admission to a facility and they had no known exposure to COVID-19 outside the facility within 10 days prior to symptom onset. A person is also included if there is an established epidemiological link between the person and a probable or confirmed COVID-19 case or environmental source in the facility.
As for staff, their COVID-19 infection must be attributed to a workplace exposure by workplace health and safety, public health, or infection prevention and control.
RELATED: Nelson tops West Kootenay with 144 new COVID-19 cases
betsy.kline@castlegarnews.com
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