Fraser Valley – On Wednesday June 17, Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, issued the following joint statement regarding updates on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) response in British Columbia:
“Today, we are announcing 19 new COVID-19 confirmed positive cases, for a total of 2,775 cases in British Columbia.
“There are 185 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 2,422 people who tested positive have recovered.
“Of the total COVID-19 cases, 11 individuals are hospitalized, five of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.
“Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 946 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 1,438 in the Fraser Health region, 130 in the Island Health region, 196 in the Interior Health region and 65 in the Northern Health region.
“There have been no new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 168 deaths in British Columbia. We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There have been no new community outbreaks and the outbreak at the Oppenheimer Group produce distributor has now been declared over. Public health teams continue to provide support for the four ongoing community locations.
“There have been two new health-care facility outbreaks, at the Mission Memorial Hospital and Tabor Home in Abbotsford. The outbreak at Tabor Home and at the Maple Hill long-term care facility announced yesterday are connected to the outbreak at Mission Memorial Hospital.
“These recent health-care outbreaks are very concerning and clearly demonstrate that COVID-19 remains in our communities.
“Mission Memorial is a small hospital, which means services for the local community are now limited to urgent and emergency care only.
“Public health teams are working hard to contain further spread. While we are monitoring the situation closely, we are hopeful that we have caught these outbreaks in the early stages.
In the release from Fraser Health – A resident of Tabor Home in Abbotsford has tested positive for COVID-19. A Fraser Health SWAT team is at the site and communication with residents and families is underway.
Tabor Home is a long term care facility owned and operated by Tabor Home Society. The resident is in self-isolation at their home in long term care.
Enhanced control measures have been put in place at the site and Fraser Health is working with staff to identify anyone who may have been exposed and is taking steps to protect the health of all staff, residents and families.
Fraser Health has proactively implemented the following:
- Staffing levels will be maintained to provide resident care.
- Visitors have been limited to only essential visitors.
- Staff and residents movement in the facility has been restricted.
- Cleaning and infection control measures have been enhanced.
- Residents, families and staff are being notified.
- Twice a day screening of all staff and residents.
During this time, Fraser Health has additional presence at the site to take any further actions required and support the facility. This includes dedicated people to address quality, answer questions from staff, residents and family, and provide active checks of symptoms with staff and residents.
The outbreak at Tabor Home and the Maple Hill long-term care facility outbreak announced yesterday both connect to an outbreak at Mission Memorial Hospital. At this time, the emergency department at the hospital remains open for urgent and emergent care only. Enhanced precautions were implemented immediately at the site, as well as contact tracing.
Fraser Health has implemented comprehensive strategies to prevent and respond to COVID-19 in long term care, assisted living and independent living facilities. In addition, Fraser Health has also deployed more than 480 people including care staff and our SWAT teams which include clinical nurse educators, infection prevention and control experts, screeners, and patient care quality officers supporting with communication to families and assessing symptoms at the site. Through these teams, sites are also connected with emergency supplies and additional personnel if needed.
For more information about COVID-19, please visit fraserhealth.ca/covid19.
