New outbreak of COVID-19 in B.C. care home where 82% of residents were already vaccinated

A new outbreak of COVID-19 has been declared at the Cottonwoods Care Centre in B.C.’s Interior Health region where staff and residents had already received vaccines, the provincial health officer announced Monday

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control has confirmed on its website that 82 per cent of residents had been vaccinated as of Feb. 15. The centre does not provide information about how many staff were immunized.

In a live news conference, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said being vaccinated doesn’t mean transmission will be stopped and that precautions must remain in place for seniors and care homes.

“You can have transmission even when people are fully vaccinated,” she said. “The illness seems to be milder and doesn’t transmit as much [and we] won’t see rapid explosive outbreaks.”

Two staff members and 10 residents have tested positive at the Cottonwoods long-term care facility in Kelowna, which has 221 publicly funded beds. Henry said that all staff and residents at the home were offered immunizations and that there was very high uptake of the vaccine. She said some of the cases were among people who had received two doses of the vaccine.