Kamloops Seniors Village
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September 03, 2021 - 6:00 PM
One person has died and four more residents of Kamloops Seniors Village (KSV) in have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the number of positive cases at the Aberdeen long-term care home to nine.
Interior Health declared an outbreak on the 1C and 1B complex-care neighbourhoods on Aug. 27, but cases began showing up a week earlier amongst staff.
An update from Interior Health on Sept. 1 lists the KSV cases as remaining at five, with one death connected to the outbreak.
An online update from KSV staff, however, indicates nine total cases as of Sept. 1 — three more 1C residents and one more from 1B were found to be positive for COVID-19.
The new cases followed nasal tests on Aug. 30 of the remaining 36 residents in between the two units who hadn’t already tested positive. The release, however, does not mention the death.
All four of the people who tested positive on Aug. 30 were asymptomatic at the time of testing, a KSV press release stated.
The 1B resident who tested positive was temporarily moved to 1C until further notice and all 1B residents are now isolated in their respective suites — having previously only being confined to the 1B unit when the outbreak was declared.
Residents of 1C are also confined to their rooms and visitation and group activities remain cancelled for the two neighbourhoods.
As of Sept. 1, four residents of 1C are currently showing symptoms of COVID-19, but are resting in their rooms and not showing any “clinical concerns” the KSV updates read.
On Aug. 19 and Aug. 20, KVS learned two staff members from 1C — one of whom was fully vaccinated — tested positive for COVID-19.
On Aug. 25, three residents — two from 1C and one from 1B — tested positive for COVID-19 after Interior Health recommended testing all 1C residents and two unvaccinated residents of 1B.
The health authority determined the two initial staff cases were unrelated to each other, so an outbreak was not initially declared and the facility remained in a "heightened precaution" mode until after a review following the first three resident cases being found.
The outbreak declaration of Aug. 27 does not affect the other four complex-care units or the independent and assisted living side of the building, according to KSV.
Visitation and group recreation activities will continue for the unaffected units, with standard safety protocols in place. All residents, however, continue to be monitored for symptoms, but are only tested if they show signs of the virus.
Asymptomatic rapid testing of KSV staff who worked on the 1C and 1B neighbourhoods dating back to Aug. 3 continues to be conducted and, as of Sept. 1, none have shown symptoms, according to the care home’s latest update. Staff from 1C have been confined to that cohort.
The outbreak in the two units will remain in place until 28 days have passed from the last detected case of COVID-19. KSV has a call with Interior Health and a medical health officer scheduled for Sept. 2 to review the situation.
Kamloops Seniors Village offers three levels of care in its Hugh Allan Drive facility, with 114 complex-care studio suites within six neighbourhoods on the west end of the building. Three are located on the first floor (1A, 1B, and1C), and three are located on the second floor (2A, 2B, and 2C). On the building’s east side, KSV has 101 assisted-independent living apartments.
KTW is awaiting a call back from KSV regarding the death.
COVID-19 outbreak will impact voting
Despite the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19, Kamloops Seniors Village is still hosting an advance polling station on Sept. 13 for the Sept. 20 federal election.
But due to the outbreak, long-term care residents of the Aberdeen facility will not be allowed to participate.
A mail-in ballot is still an option and KSV is advising families to go online and request a vote by mail package no later than Sept. 14 at 6 p.m. The package is to be addressed to each resident’s Kamloops Seniors Village address. The recreation team will facilitate their vote and mail the package on the residents’ behalf.
More cases in Kamloops care homes?
An internal Interior Health memo obtained by KTW on Aug. 27 noted there are potential COVID-19 exposure events at three long-term care homes in Kamloops, none of which had as of then resulted in a declaration of an outbreak. The memo did not specify locations.
— This story was originally published by Kamloops This Week.
News from © iNFOnews, 2021