New coronavirus outbreak at Arbutus care home reported by Vancouver Coastal Health

New outbreaks at care homes in Metro Vancouver New COVID-19 outbreaks have been declared at care homes in Surrey and Vancouver Sunday.

Vancouver — A new COVID-19 outbreak at Arbutus Care Centre, a home for elderly residents in Vancouver, is being reported.

Coronavirus outbreaks at care homes cause significant risk to elderly residents who have high coronavirus death rates, and result in a variety of restrictions, including visitor limitations.

Vancouver Coastal Health’s website, which lists facility outbreaks in a special bulletin, says restrictions at the care home went into place on Aug. 14.

The facility is located at 4505 Valley Dr., near Prince of Wales Secondary School on Vancouver’s west side.

The Arbutus long term care home is a privately run centre owned by a Canadian company called Revera Living. Revera touts the centre as being located in a “quiet neighbourhood” and as a place where “residents always come first.”

The staff member who tested positive is self-isolating at home, according to a statement from Revera's chief medical officer Dr. Rhonda Collins.

In the statement, Collins said staff and residents at the facility are monitored for symptoms of COVID-19 regularly and enhanced cleaning of high-touch surfaces has been in place since before the outbreak.

"In an abundance of caution, all residents will be served their meals in their rooms and all recreation activities have been cancelled during this declared outbreak," Collins said. "We will focus on providing one-on-one activities to maintain social engagement."

Facilities operated by Revera in Ontario and Alberta have been the subject of class action lawsuits from families alleging those care homes mishandled their response to the COVID-19 pandemic and contributed to resident illness and death.

The allegations in those lawsuits have not been proven in court. None of the representative plaintiffs in the class actions are from British Columbia or dealing with B.C.-based care homes.

The outbreak at Arbutus Care Centre means the total number of outbreaks in B.C.'s health-care system remains at nine. The VCH bulletin that announced the Arbutus outbreak also noted that outbreak protocols at the Joseph & Rosalie Segal Family Health Centre in Vancouver had been lifted as of Saturday.

There were nine health-care outbreaks in B.C. as of the last update from provincial health officials on Friday, with seven in long-term care facilities and two in acute care units.

Health officials will provide their next update on the province's response to COVID-19 on Monday.