Another staff member at McKinney Place has tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of staff with the virus to 14.

There are now 41 total cases at the Oliver long-term care facility, where 27 of the 61 residents have tested positive.

Chief medical officer Dr. Albert De Villiers provided an update and answered questions on Dec. 11, including announcing the most recent confirmed positive case.

READ MORE: Interior Health working hard to contain large outbreak at Oliver care home

Interior Health has arranged additional resources to keep the facility functioning and put out a call for further staff from other parts of the Okanagan.

“If not enough people step forward,” said Dr. De Villiers. “We will deploy staff to the site to ensure that staff levels are maintained.”

So far, none of the positive cases have shown symptoms that have required hospitalization.

Interior Health has increased the number of tests, including asymptomatic staff and residents on a regular basis. All the residents are being checked twice a day for any signs of symptoms.

Families can expect the resident’s primary contact to receive a call immediately if that changes, and Interior Health called on those primary contacts to share the information they receive with friends and family.

Families are also being contacted twice a week with general updates and to check for concerns.

READ MORE: Eight residents at McKinney Place in Oliver have COVID-19

The outbreak was declared on Sunday, Dec. 6 with eight residents testing positive.

Due to the size of the initial outbreak, Interior Health has not identified the source or been able to contact trace an individual. Instead, they have been focusing on containing the current outbreak.

“According to our understanding, the first that people actually showed symptoms, there were quite a few at once,” said Dr. De Villiers. “We don’t know exactly why it spread so quickly in this specific situation, but everybody is trying to do their best to not help the spread. “

There is still no indication of COVID-19 transmission to the South Okanagan General Hospital. McKinney Place is attached to the hospital.

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