Photo: Contributed
Cottonwoods Care Center
The COVID-19 outbreak at the Cottonwoods Care Center in Kelowna is one of only three active outbreaks in long-term care facilities across the province. But Dr. Bonnie Henry says the relatively mild cases at the facility show that the vaccines are working.
The outbreak at the local care facility was reported on March 7, and to date, 20 residents and three employees have tested positive for the disease. The outbreak was reported to all residents and nursing home workers across the province several weeks after the vaccine was offered, but 35 percent of staff at the Kelowna facility had turned it down.
It remains the only COVID-19 outbreak reported in BC since widespread vaccination efforts at these facilities. The cases at the outbreak have remained stable since March 15.
But three weeks after the outbreak was declared, Dr. Henry that the mild symptoms experienced by those infected with COVID-19 at the facility and the reduction in nursing home outbreaks across the country show the vaccine is working.
“There were a number of recently immunized people and a very small number who received two doses [at Cottonwoods]”Said Dr. Henry on Thursday.” We had a very mild illness and luckily no one died in that outbreak. So that’s what we’re likely to see. “
Dr. Henry announced Thursday that visits to all care homes in the province would open next week, having allowed only one designated visitor per resident since June. Dr. Henry noted that despite widespread vaccination among nursing home residents, risks still exist.
“The transmission rate in our community is still very high and is increasing in some places,” she said. “The reality is that as we let more people into these nursing homes there will likely be more outbreaks in nursing homes, but we’ve got to a point where the benefits of those social connections and interactions outweigh the risks.
“And we know we can manage these risks if the vast majority of residents and staff are now protected with vaccinations.”
Nursing home residents can now visit a maximum of two adults and one child at the same time with friends and family members in their own rooms. The residents are also allowed to leave the facility on excursions with their relatives without having to isolate themselves on their return.
BC seniors, including nursing home residents, have been hardest hit by the pandemic. Those over 70 accounted for 87 percent of the 1,441 COVID-19 deaths in the province.
In the Interior Region, 55 of the 114 deaths in the region were among nursing home residents.
