The COVID-19 outbreak at a Kelowna long-term care home continues to grow. Cottonwoods Care Centre now has 23 cases of COVID-19, 20 of which are among residents and three are staff.

(KATHY MICHAELS / iNFOnews.ca)

The COVID-19 outbreak at a Kelowna long-term care home continues to grow.

Cottonwoods Care Centre now has 23 cases of COVID-19, 20 of which are among residents and three are staff.

Broad surveillance testing got underway late last week on asymptomatic residents and residents with mild symptoms, Interior Health said in a press release.

“As expected, positive results trickled in starting late Friday since our last report,” reads the statement. “The increase in ten cases does not signify a single day spike in cases, but rather an increase over time since the last report.”

Interior Health chief medical health officer Dr. Albert de Villiers said the rise in numbers at Cottonwoods Care Centre was not unexpected.

READ MORE: Only 65% of staff at Kelowna long-term care facility with COVID-19 outbreak took vaccine

"We are conducting surveillance testing of residents and staff as part of the outbreak measures to ensure we limit the spread of COVID-19," Dr. de Villiers said in the release. "Vaccines remain an effective tool for fighting the pandemic and I encourage everyone to book an appointment when they are eligible.”

On March 8, medical health officer Dr. Sue Pollock said the immunization rate for residents for the long-term care facility is greater than 80 per cent.

Among staff, however, it’s much lower.

“Cottonwoods was the first facility in Interior Health that offered the vaccine, dating back to December,” Pollock said. “Staff have had access since Dec. 22, and there were two onsite clinics as well, in early January and early February, open for residents and staff.”

The staff immunization rate at Cottonwoods is 65 per cent.

“I would like to see it higher than 65 per cent, there are a number of reasons why it’s there and hopefully we will see the number climb,” said Pollock.

One issue, said Pollock, is that some people have “vaccine hesitancy” and there will be education material made available to address that issue.

Vaccination, however, is not mandatory.

"None of our vaccine programs in Canada or in B.C. are mandatory and I don't believe this one needs to be either," provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said during a March 11 press conference. "We know it's an important protection measure for us as individuals as health care workers."

More than 90% of the almost 38,000 workers at long-term care homes across the province have been vaccinated against COVID-19 and 96% of people living in such facilities have been vaccinated, Health Minister Adrian Dix said.

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