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COVID-19 outbreak at Mission prison grows

Outbreak at Mission prison prompts health officials to redeploy mobile hospital to Abbotsford
dr_bonnie_henry_minister_adrian_dix
BC Health Minister Adrian Dix, right, and public health officer Bonnie Henry at daily pandemic briefing. | BC Government

Daily new COVID-19 cases continue to fall in B.C., but an outbreak at a federal prison in Mission has prompted provincial health officials to redeploy a mobile hospital from the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver to Abbotsford.

There were three new deaths since Monday, all in long-term care facilities, bringing the death toll in B.C. to 72. But the daily new cases since Monday is down. There were just 25 new confirmed cases since Monday.

The first week of April, daily new cases were more than 50 for a few days in a row.

There have been a total of 1,517 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in B.C. to date, with 942 of those patients recovered -- a recovery rate of 62%.

There has been one additional long-term care home that has had a confirmed case of COVID-19, at the South Granville Park Lodge, bringing the total of long-term care homes with at least one case to 21. Of the total positive cases in B.C., 289 are at long-term care homes and assisted living facilities: 165 residents and 124 staff.

There have been three additional cases among temporary foreign farm workers at a nursery in the Okanagan.

One of the biggest concerns now, outside of long-term care homes, is an outbreak at a federal medium-security prison in Mission, where 41 inmates have now tested positive, with seven of them in hospital.

Abbotsford regional hospital has developed a dedicated unit to manage COVID-19 patients, and Fraser Health is now planning to bring a mobile hospital that had been set up at Vancouver Convention Centre to Abbotsford.

"It will be redeployed to the Abbotsford area to provide additional support for this ongoing and very concerning outbreak that we have at the Mission correctional facility," said public health officer Bonnie Henry.

Since April 10, 2,337 British Columbians who were abroad have returned home, most of whom have been approved for self-isolation at home for 14 days. But 24 of those British Columbians did not have certified self-isolation plans when they returned, and are now in temporary quarantine.

Henry was asked about a new rapid COVID-19 test developed by Spartan Bioscience. She said there are other testing platforms available that the province is using, but said the new Spartan test may be used, when it becomes available.

"My understanding is they wouldn't be available to us till some time a few months from now anyway, so it is absolutely part of our whole plan of looking at how we can scale up testing, but we are currently focused on ones that we have in province at the moment."

Here are the daily case counts for April 14, compared with numbers from the last update, April 13, which was a two-day reporting period, in brackets:

New COVID-19 cases: 27 (45)

BC Total: 1,517 (1,490)

Hospitalized: 135 (137)

Intensive care: 58 (58)

Recovered: 942 (905)

Deaths: 72 (69)

Confirmed cases by region:

* Vancouver Coastal Health: 658

* Fraser Health: 601

* Island Health: 89

* Interior Health: 141

* Northern Health: 28

More to come.

nbennett@biv.com

@nbennett_biv

This article originally appeared here.