Tuesday January 12, 2021 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc, editor | Island Social Trends
There are three active outbreaks in long-term care facilities on Vancouver Island as of this evening on January 12, 2021.
The most recent one is at Hart House in the Fairfield neighbourhood of Victoria where the services offered are long-term care, assisted living and independent living. One staff person tested positive on January 9. All 17 residents have been isolated in their suites.
The other two outbreaks are shown as in Duncan and Nanaimo, as listed on the Island Health COVID-19 Outbreaks page:
| Location | Type | Date |
| Hart House long-term care home 1961 Fairfield Rd, Victoria, B.C. | Outbreak | January 9, 2021 |
| Ts’i’ts’uwatul’ Lelum Assisted Living 5755 Allenby Rd Duncan, B.C. | Outbreak | January 7, 2021 |
| Chartwell Malaspina Care Residence 100 Eleventh Street Nanaimo, B.C. | Outbreak | Dec 27 and 28, 2020 |
Most of the deaths (about 80 per cent) due to COVID-19 in BC and across Canada have occurred in long-term care and assisted living facilities. On Vancouver Island there have been 13 deaths by COVID, most of those in long-term care.
As reported by Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry on January 11, there are 1,364 residents in long-term care, assisted living and acute care facilities who have tested positive for COVID-19, as well as 669 staff in those facilities. Those infections are presently in 50 long-term care and assisted living facilities as well as 10 acute care facilities.
Vaccination priority:
Residents and workers in long-term care — as well as essential visitors (who helping with social as well as direct-care support) are at the top of the vaccination priority list across BC.
Presently the available vaccines are by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. The frontrunner in terms of availability has been the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine product; as it requires a centralized administration system, that product has been used mostly in long-term care and acute care settings.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said yesterday that all of the Moderna vaccine doses have been allocated; most of those are going to rural and remote areas, including Indigenous.
As posted on the Island Health website, between December and February, the following people will be able to be immunized:
- residents, staff and essential visitors to long-term care and assisted-living residences
- individuals in hospital or community awaiting a long term care placement
- health care workers providing care for COVID-19 patients in settings like Intensive Care Units, emergency departments, medical/surgical units and paramedics
- remote and isolated First Nations communities
From February to March, the immunization program will expand to include:
- community-based seniors, age 80 and above, Indigenous elders and Indigenous seniors, age 65 and above
- people experiencing homelessness and/or using shelters
- provincial correctional facilities
- adults in group homes or mental health residential care
- long term home support recipients and staff
- hospital staff, community GPs and medical specialists
COVID profile in BC and on Vancouver Island:
By comparison, there were 7,313 people across BC yesterday who were isolating under public health surveillance due to exposure to COVID-19. Today that count is down a bit to 7,238.
There were 5,220 active cases of COVID-19 in BC yesterday, with 175 of those in Island Health. Today January 12 that tally is down a bit across the province (5,045 active cases in BC) while the tally on Vancouver Island is up a bit (182 active cases).
Most of the active cases on Vancouver Island are in the central region — 120 presently active and 528 in total during the pandemic to date. Presently there are 35 active cases in the south (total 379) and 30 in the north (total 247).
