Vernon’s first COVID-19 care home death confirmed

Ten more people have tested positive for COVID-19 Tuesday (Jan. 5) in relation to outbreaks at three Vernon long-term care facilities. And one person has died

A total of 52 people have contracted the virus.

As of Tuesday, Jan. 5:

• Creekside Landing long-term care has a total of 11 cases; eight staff and three residents.
• Noric House long-term care has 10 cases; eight residents and two staff.
• Heritage Square long-term care has 31 cases; 21 residents and 10 staff. One person has died.

“Today we lost another member of our community to COVID-19 and on behalf of everyone at Interior Health, I want to offer our sincere condolences to their loved ones and care givers,” IH president and CEO Susan Brown said. “Sadly, this brings our region to 33 COVID-19 related deaths since the start of the pandemic. I encourage everyone to take the necessary steps to limit the spread of this virus and to stay committed in the fight against COVID-19.”

Heritage Square on 27th Street, operated by Kaigo Retirement Communities Ltd., was the first long-term care facility in Vernon that Interior Health declared an outbreak (Dec. 27). One new case of COVID-19 was identified since Jan. 4.

One additional case was identified overnight at Noric House, the second Vernon facility to have an outbreak declared Dec. 31.

On Monday, Creekside Landing had four positive cases of COVID-19, two residents and two staff. By Tuesday, another six residents have tested positive for the virus.

In total, 61 new cases of the virus were reported in the Interior Health region Jan. 4, for a total of 4,239. Thirty-five people are in hospital, seven are in ICU.

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