COVID outbreak declared over at West Vancouver seniors home

A COVID-19 outbreak at a West Vancouver seniors home that claimed the lives of two elderly residents has been declared over.

Vancouver Coastal Health declared the outbreak at Amica’s Lions Gate seniors home on Keith Road over on Monday (Nov. 8).

The outbreak started Oct. 16 at the 99-bed private seniors home after two residents tested positive. Two elderly residents succumbed to the illness Oct. 22-24.

Seventeen people, including eight residents and nine staff members, eventually tested positive for the virus despite 100 per cent of staff members and residents being fully vaccinated, according to an Amica spokesperson.

As of this week, all those who had tested positive for the virus had recovered.

Amica’s other seniors home in Edgemont is still considered to be a COVID-19 outbreak, although many of those who first contracted the virus there have also since recovered.

As of Monday there were four staff members and five residents who were still considered active COVID cases. Two residents and nine staff members have since recovered.

While residents testing positive are still isolating in their suites, group activities and dining is now permitted to resume on the second and third floors of the home, according to Amica.

Concerns about increasing numbers of “breakthrough” cases in fully vaccinated people recently prompted the province to begin a rollout of booster shots, beginning with the most vulnerable and elderly. Residents of long-term care and assisted living on the North Shore have now received their booster shots.

During the first wave of the pandemic, in the spring of 2020, an outbreak at the Amica facility in Edgemont led to the deaths of three residents.

A total of 151 care home residents in eight care homes on the North Shore contracted COVID in the first year of the pandemic, and 52 residents died.