Nanaimo care home dealing with COVID-19 outbreak for 2nd time

Two staff members and a resident at a Nanaimo long-term care home have tested positive for COVID-19, prompting an outbreak declaration in the affected unit at the facility.

Island Health announced the outbreak at Chartwell Malaspina Care Centre's Hummingbird Unit on Sunday, saying the origin of the outbreak is still under investigation.

Residents and staff have been isolated to the unit and all social visitation, admissions and transfers to the unit have been halted, the health authority said.

Island Health said it has also placed the rest of the facility under enhanced surveillance, and is supporting staff at the care home to ensure residents continue to receive the care they need.

This is the second time a coronavirus outbreak has been declared at Chartwell Malaspina Care Centre.

The first outbreak there began on Dec. 27, 2020 and lasted for more than a month. By the time the outbreak had ended, on Feb. 3, 2021, a total of nine people had tested positive for COVID-19, according to data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. 

Seven of the people who tested positive were residents, and the other two were staff members. Two of the infected residents died in the outbreak.

The current outbreak is the only one ongoing in a health-care facility on Vancouver Island right now. There is one other outbreak declared on the island, at the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre in Saanich.