The number of active COVID-19 cases in Delta has declined steadily through January, according to weekly statistics released by the BC Centre for for Disease Control.
Every Wednesday, BC CDC releases a map showing the geographic distribution of COVID-19 cases by local health area of residence. The latest weekly map shows Delta had 69 cases for week of Jan. 17-23, a little over half the number of cases reported at the start of 2021 (134 cases for the week ending Jan. 2).
From the start of the pandemic through the end of 2020, there were a total of 1,960 COVID-19 cases in Delta.
Meanwhile, there were no new COVID cases at Delta care facilities in the past week, with Fraser Health declaring all four local care facility outbreaks over.
RELATED: B.C. completes COVID-19 vaccination in senior care homes (Jan. 29, 2021)
On Jan. 28, the health authority declared both outbreaks at KinVillage in Tsawwassen over. The outbreak at the West Court long-term care building was declared on Jan. 9 and was limited to six staff members. There were no deaths associated with that outbreak, and Fraser Health said it was not connected to the concurrent outbreak in the South Court assisted living building.
The South Court outbreak, which was declared Jan. 3, saw four cases — all of them residents — and two deaths. It was the second outbreak at the assisted living facility. The first, which began Sept. 3 and ended Oct. 16, had a total of four cases — three residents and one staff member. One resident died.
On Jan. 22, Fraser Health declared the outbreak at Good Samaritan Delta View Care Centre over. Since the outbreak was declared on Nov. 1, 2020, the East Delta long-term care facility saw a total of 65 cases — 26 residents and 39 staff — and eight residents died.
The outbreak was the third at Good Samaritan Delta View Care Centre. Fraser Health previously declared an outbreak at the facility on March 21 after and staff member tested positive for the novel coronavirus. That outbreak was declared over a month later on April 22 and was limited to the one case.
More recently, the health authority declared an outbreak on Oct. 9, again after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. That outbreak was declared over on Oct. 23, and also limited to one case.
On Jan. 23, Fraser Health declared the outbreak over at Waterford Retirement Residence, an independent living facility in Tsawwassen. That outbreak, declared on Dec. 27, had a total of 71 cases — 60 residents and 11 staff — and one resident died.
SEE ALSO: 629 new cases of COVID-19 in Delta in last month of 2020 (Jan. 8, 2021)
The province began reporting weekly updates on each care home, assisted living or independent living facility dealing with outbreaks of the novel coronavirus on Jan. 7.
Daily reports are compiled in each health authority, along with hospitalization and intensive care statistics, before being compiled into a province-wide report for release to media. The new system has contracted and government labs send their daily results to the province and health authority managers at the same time.
The weekly reports are released on Thursdays and detail all current outbreaks in care homes, including the number of infected staff and residents as well as deaths per care facility.
RELATED: B.C. shifts reporting to get COVID-19 information out faster (Jan. 7, 2020)
The reports define an outbreak as “one or more clients and/or staff of a long-term care facility/senior’s assisted living residence with a laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis. The staff member(s) must have worked at the facility while symptomatic.
“In principle, an outbreak is considered over two full incubation periods after the last date of exposure, without any new cases. For COVID-19, two incubation periods equate to 28 days after the last date of exposure. The length of time to conclude an outbreak may be reduced or extended at the direction of the Medical Health Officer.”
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