British Columbia’s health minister vows to act on SCMP report that Vancouver care homes delayed declaring Covid-19 outbreaks

Adrian Dix ‘resolved to look into this very important matter’ after Post revealed 192 died in homes where outbreaks weren’t declared when staff first fell ill

Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry defended the strategy, saying it prevented ‘severe’ outbreak restrictions being unnecessarily imposed on elders

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British Columbia Minister of Health Adrian Dix and Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry speak to the media in this January 31, 2020 file photo. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:35am, 15 May 2021Updated: 11:44am, 20 May 2021

British Columbia’s health minister has pledged to look into the circumstances of Covid-19 infections in long-term care homes, in light of a South China Morning Post investigation that revealed at least 192 people had died in Vancouver homes where authorities did not declare outbreaks when an employee first tested positive for the virus.

More than 1,000 people became infected in 42 care homes where outbreak declarations were delayed by an average of almost five days under the strategy, known as “enhanced surveillance” or “enhanced monitoring”.

Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a statement on Friday: “We recognise the devastating impacts Covid has had on our seniors and elders living in long-term care and on their loved ones, both here in British Columbia and across Canada, and we take these reports extremely seriously.”

The ministry had resolved “to look into this important matter, and we will have more to say once we have completed this vital work.”

The strategy was implemented across BC on November 9.

What kind of enhanced surveillance do you have if you’re not testing anyone?

Terry Lake, chief executive of the BC Care Providers Association

Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry on Thursday defended the strategy of not declaring outbreaks when one “low risk” staff member tested positive to the virus, saying it was to avoid being “overly cautious” and unnecessarily imposing “severe” outbreak restrictions on residents.