Outbreak over at retirement home
Work expected to start this spring and be completed by late May
A COVID-19 outbreak at a West Kelowna care facility that resulted in the deaths of four residents has been declared over.
No other residents at the Heritage Retirement Residence on Brown Road in Westbank have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 28 days, Interior Health says.
“I’m happy to declare another COVID19 outbreak over," Dr. Albert de Villiers, IH's chief medical health officer, said in a release.
There were 46 cases of COVID-19 at Heritage Retirement Residence; 41 residents and five staff.
All eligible residents and staff at the building have now been offered their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
On Monday, the president and CEO of Diversicare Canada, the company that owns Heritage Retirement Residence and 11 other facilities like it across Canada, posted a message on the company's website.
“Seventy per cent of (our) residents nation-wide have had their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, as have a high percentage of front-line team members,” David Bird wrote.
“We appreciate our caring, resourceful, and resilient team members for all their hard work, tireless service, and support of our residents,” Bird said.
“Our residents and family members are an amazing group of patient and understanding people who have shown great flexibility and resiliency in these unusual and unprecedented times.”
The IH website currently lists six active outbreaks of COVID-19 long-term care homes. They are:
— Noric House in Vernon (nine resident deaths; 39 resident cases; 29 staff cases)
— Creekside Landing in Vernon (one resident death; 25 resident cases; 15 staff cases)
— Heritage Square in Vernon (nine resident deaths; 47 resident cases; 21 staff cases)
— Sunnybank in Oliver (six resident deaths; 27 resident cases; 11 staff cases)
- Brocklehurst Gemstone Care Centre in Kamloops (two resident deaths; 17 resident cases; eight staff cases)
— Westsyde Care Residence in Kamloops (14 resident cases, 12 staff, no deaths).
Median barriers will be installed on a section of Highway 97 north of Summerland this spring.
A $671,000 contract has been awarded to Kon Kast Products Ltd. of Kelowna to install concrete median barriers along a 4.2kilometre stretch of Highway 97 between Bentley Road and Callan Road.
The barriers will ensure an added layer of protection for travellers by preventing head-on collisions and other crossover incidents, especially at night and during bad weather conditions. Work is expected to start this spring when weather permits and be completed by late May.
New barriers have been installed along sections of the highway between Penticton and Summerland.
Median barriers are also being installed on a 5.9-kilometre section of Highway 97A between Armstrong and Vernon.
Drivers can expect minor delays, as the installation work will occur outside the peak traffic hours of 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and
3 p.m. 7 p.m.