VANCOUVER ISLAND

COVID-19 outbreak declared at Victoria long-term care home

Ian Holliday

Published Saturday, January 9, 2021 4:16PM PST Last Updated Saturday, January 9, 2021 4:34PM PST

This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes COVID-19. The sample was isolated from a patient in the U.S. (NIAID-RML via AP)

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VANCOUVER -- Island Health has declared a COVID-19 outbreak at a Victoria long-term care home after a staff member there tested positive for the disease.

The health authority announced the outbreak at Hart House in a news release Saturday, saying the staff member is self-isolating at home and public health teams are working to identify anyone who may have been exposed to the coronavirus.

"At this time, no residents are experiencing symptoms," Island Health said in its release. "Communication with staff, residents and their families is ongoing."

Hart House is owned and operated by Trillium Communities and is not affiliated with Heart House, a non-profit association operated by the First Open Heart Society of B.C.

All 17 residents of Hart House have now been tested for COVID-19, Island Health said Saturday.

Additionally, all residents are in isolation in their suites and twice daily screening of staff and residents for COVID-19 symptoms has been put in place.

As of Thursday, when B.C.'s Ministry of Health released detailed information on case counts at all care home outbreaks in the province, there was only one other active outbreak on Vancouver Island: at Chartwell Malaspina Care Residence, where seven residents and one staff member had tested positive.

Later that day, however, Island Health announced another outbreak, this one at Ts’i’ts’uwatul’ Lelum centre, an assisted-living facility in Duncan. One staff member had tested positive there as of Thursday evening.