A case of COVID-19 at the Maple Hill long-term care facility in Langley was a patient who was transferred from Mission Memorial Hospital to the facility.
Fraser Health confirmed the new Langley case on Tuesday, June 16 but did not say exactly how it was connected to the Mission hospital.
During a Wednesday afternoon (June 17) media briefing, Dr. Martin Lavoie, Fraser Health’s chief medical health officer, said the patient was kept isolated after they were transferred from Mission to Langley under COVID-19 precautions that require a 14-day quarantine for all new arrivals, and after three days, the patient began to show symptoms.
READ MORE: UPDATED: New COVID outbreak reported in another Langley care home
That prompted testing of patients at the Mission hospital, he said.
Currently there are five known cases of COVID connected to the Mission hospital; the transfer patient to Maple Hill in Langley, another transfer patient who went to Tabor Home in Abbotsford, and three others at the hospital, one of whom has recovered.
Dr. Lavoie said it appears to be a “very unusual” case of so-called “silent” or asymptomatic transmission at the hospital.
“We are in the process of testing the patients at Mission Memorial Hospital,” Dr. Lavoie said.
“We will be testing them all.”
Mission Memorial has been closed to new admissions while testing is underway.
Only the emergency department at the hospital remains open, and only for urgent and emergent care.
A statement by Fraser Health said “enhanced precautions” were implemented immediately at the site, as well as contact tracing.
Dr. Lavoie said the latest incident show the need for precautionary measures.
“COVID-19 is still with us,” Lavoie commented.
READ MORE: Top doctor urges caution as B.C. records 19 new COVID-19 cases
Earlier in the day, health minister Adrian Dix and provincial heath office Dr. Bonnie Henry reported 19 new COVID-19 confirmed positive cases, for a total of 2,775 cases in British Columbia.
There are 185 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 2,422 people who tested positive have recovered.
Of the total COVID-19 cases, 11 individuals are hospitalized, five of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 946 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 1,438 in the Fraser Health region, 130 in the Island Health region, 196 in the Interior Health region and 65 in the Northern Health region.
There have been no new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 168 deaths in the province.
dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
