COVID-19 outbreaks declared at three care homes on weekend

Health authorities declared COVID-19 outbreaks at three care homes over the weekend.

Interior Health said on Sunday that one staff member and one resident at Village by the Station in Penticton have tested positive for COVID-19 and are now both in self-isolation. All individuals who had contact with the two infected persons have also been asked to self-quarantine and monitor for symptoms.

Outbreaks have also been declared over the weekend at a Chilliwack care home and at a Coquitlam care home.

Two staff members at Chilliwack's Bradley Centre and one staff member and one resident at Coquitlam's Lakeshore Care Centre have tested positive for COVID-19, Fraser Health announced on Saturday. All four individuals are now in self-isolation.

On Saturday, the union representing 4,500 B.C. paramedics said paramedics are burning out because of staffing shortages amid two health crises. Ambulance Paramedics of B.C. says the holiday season is the busiest time of the year and emergency care for patients may be affected due to critically low staffing among paramedics and dispatchers.

“Shift vacancy is the highest it has ever been. When we come to work, the first question we ask one another is: `How many ambulances will stay parked today due to staffing shortages.' The holidays will certainly test ambulance resources and resilience,” Shane Sander, a union spokesman, said in a statement.

Union president Troy Clifford said that on top of that an increase in stress leave and trouble recruiting new paramedics are contributing to the critical shortage of staff.

Also over the weekend, Fraser Health said it's changing the way it notifies people in schools about their exposures to COVID-19.

Jordan Tinney, superintendent of the Surrey School District, said three different types of letters will be sent out depending on the exposure event.

If a single class is exposed, students and their parents will be notified of the positive case, while all others in the school will get a letter saying they weren't exposed. An exposure notification would be sent to the entire school if an infection isn't attached to a specific class, such as if a vice-principal tested positive for COVID-19.