Fraser Health has declared a COVID-19 outbreak at Delta Hospital after evidence of transmission in a Medicine unit.
According to a release issued Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 16), two patients at the hospital have tested positive for COVID-19. The outbreak is limited to one unit, which is temporarily closed to admissions.
“Upon declaring the outbreak, Fraser Health immediately implemented precautions, including enhanced cleaning, as well as contact tracing to protect the health of all staff, medical staff, and patients,” the release states.
The health authority says it has notified all patients on the affected unit about the outbreak, and in addition, have informed the families of patients who are unable to share this information.
Delta Hospital is working with essential visitors to the affected unit on a case-by-case basis.
On Wednesday afternoon, the province announced all five health authorities will begin posting school exposure events on a public website. Exposures in each health authority — Fraser Health, Vancouver Coastal Health, Island Health, Interior Health and Northern Health — will be linked on the B.C. Centre for Disease Control website, similar to how non-school public exposures are currently listed. The lists will include both public and independent schools.
Fraser Health, which covers a region from Delta to Hope, has already unveiled the school exposures section of their website. As of Wednesday afternoon, that includes one exposure at Delta Secondary School (dated Sept. 11) and five exposures events at schools in Surrey.
READ MORE: B.C. to begin publicly listing COVID-19 school exposure events (Sept. 16, 2020)
On Wednesday, the province reported 122 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of active cases to 1,614. Sixty people are currently hospitalized, 23 of whom are in ICU, and 2,966 people are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases.
There have been a total of 7,498 confirmed cases in B.C. since the pandemic began, and to date 5,646 people who tested positive have recovered.
READ MORE: B.C. reports 122 new COVID-19 cases as health officials urge smaller social circles (Sept. 16, 2020)
— with files from Katya Slepian
editor@northdeltareporter.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
