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Langley Lodge ordered to swab all residents staff, new cases discovered

Four new cases – two residents and two staff – have been confirmed at the long-term care home
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There were no new deaths reported at Langley Lodge on Friday, but the number of active cases has risen.

That, confirmed this evening by chief executive director Debra Hauptman, who said there are two new cases of COVID-19 among the residents and two more discovered among staff.

Back on Wednesday, the Langley non-profit care home reported its 22nd death connected to the virus since the outbreak began on April 28 – the most deaths in any seniors care facility in B.C. since the pandemic was declared early March.

The very next day, on Thursday, Fraser Health appointed its own director of pandemic response to provide oversight of the COVID-19 response at Langley Lodge.

RELATED: Fraser Health takes charge of COVID response at Langley Lodge

“Over the past day we have received instructions from the FH [Fraser Health’s] chief medical health officer Dr. Martin Lavoie, along with our medical director Dr. Mitchell Fagan, to swab all negative residents and all staff once again,” Hauptman explained in her online update Friday evening.

The testing took place on Thursday and Friday, with what she calls “a large majority of test results” (108) coming back negative.

The majority of the confirmed cases have been reported in the Lodge’s dementia wards, and until this week were confined to the second and third floors.

More recently though, there were three diagnosis reported on the fifth floor. And in Friday evening’s report, Hauptman confirmed there were two new resident cases of COVID-19 in the centre – one was on the fifth floor, while another was on the third.

“The swab results also identified two positive staff members who have no symptoms. This is an example of how the virus can spread, from non-symptomatic persons to others. We have personally notified the families of the residents that tested positive,” she elaborated.

The recently diagnosed residents were moved together onto the third floor Friday, where Hauptman said, “we can intensify resources and minimize further exposures.”

Family members of those affected by the move have been contacted directly, Hauptman said, assuring them that there has been infection prevention and control specialists on site all week, as well as a specialized ultraviolet germ-sterilization machine brought in.

In the meantime, all Langley Lodge residents are continuing to be confined to their rooms, receiving meal service.

The latest overview numbers issued Wednesday showed that 22 from the home had recovered from COVID-19, mirroring the number who have died from the disease.

Hauptman promised another update on Monday, June 1.

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