In an email Wednesday, a health authority communications staff member said there were no active cases at the facility on East 36th Avenue, near Main Street, and that all eligible residents and most staff were immunized with a COVID-19 vaccine.
Since the most recent outbreak was declared Nov. 22 at Little Mountain, 99 residents and 72 staff tested positive for the virus. All staff recovered, but 41 residents died in what has been the worst care home tragedy in B.C. since the pandemic was declared in March 2020.
The executive director at Little Mountain Place has refused to discuss the tragedy with media and referred questions to the health authority, whose chief medical health officer Dr. Patricia Daly Jan. 13.
Between when the pandemic was declared in March and Nov. 22, only two staff members had tested positive for the virus. How and why the virus spread so quickly through December in the 114-room facility is still a question the health agency hasn’t fully answered.
“I can be very honest with you, we don’t know exactly how the virus entered this facility, and we may not get that information looking back,” Daly said at the time. “Even the very first outbreak at Lynn Valley [care home in North Vancouver], we never determined exactly how the virus got into that facility. So it may not be possible.”
Earlier this week, the B.C. government it commissioned Ernst & Young to conduct last spring related to long-term care homes. Ernst & Young reviewed the response, efforts made and actions taken — or not taken — by the Ministry of Health and health authorities in the first wave of the pandemic.
The ministry said the report was completed in October 2020 and some recommended actions in the report were either acted upon, or already underway. Other recommendations pointed to areas where progress could be furthered, broadened or expanded — or that had not previously been identified.
Some of the report’s findings:
• Care home operators reported a variation in timeliness and quality of support across health authorities for facilities experiencing outbreak.
• Gaps were identified in infection prevention and control and emergency preparedness knowledge and training in care homes and assisted living facilities.
• Lack of centralized oversight, coordination and access to personal protective equipment supply in the early stages of the pandemic.
• Perception that the oversight, management and support available to providers depended on whether a facility was health authority-owned and operated or operated by a private or non-profit provider.
• Real time supply chain data was not readily available, leading to reduced oversight and inefficient management of supplies.
• Provincial policies sometimes lacked detail which led to operational variations as policies were interpreted by regional authorities.
• Policies, guidelines and directions were created and released at a fast pace based on the rapid growth of the pandemic, which often resulted in challenges to implementation and didn't always consider operational constraints.
• Policy challenges were communicated to contracted and private care providers through different means, and private operators reported feeling they were given less implementation support.
• Care providers were sometimes unclear on governing body roles and authorities and were sometimes unsure who had primary authority when orders differed between the Ministry and health authorities.
As of Thursday, the number of care homes, assisted living facilities and seniors’ rental buildings in B.C. with COVID-19 outbreaks totaled 27, including Little Mountain. Most of the facilities affected — 15 in total — are in the jurisdiction of Fraser Health.
Nine hospitals, including St. Paul’s in Vancouver, University Hospital of Northern B.C. in Prince George and Royal Inland in Kamloops, have also declared outbreaks. The total number of active COVID-19 cases in the province was 4,455, as of Thursday.
So far, 1,184 people have died in B.C. of the virus.
Update: Health Minister Adrian Dix declared on Twitter late Friday afternoon that the outbreak at Little Mountain Place is now over.
@Howellings
