28 residents, 27 staff at Vancouver's Haro Park care centre confirmed to have COVID-19

A 154-resident care home in Vancouver's West End has nearly surpassed the Lynn Valley Care Centre's confirmed COVID-19 cases, making it among the worst outbreaks in B.C.

The number of cases at HaroPark Centre spiked on Wednesday, according to provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, rising to 28 infected residents and 27 staff members with confirmed cases of the virus.

As of Tuesday, Lynn Valley Care Centre in North Vancouver was associated with 63cases 42among residents and 21among staff.

The spread of the outbreak in theLynn Valley facility appears to have ebbed, with no new cases recorded on Wednesday, but it remains the deadliest in the country.

There are now 11 deaths associated with that single outbreak, out of a total 14 in B.C. and 36 across the country.

At Haro Park Centre, where the first COVID-19 case was confirmed on March 18, there were 15confirmed cases among residents and 25among health-care workers on Tuesday. By Wednesday, that had nearly doubled.

"It is not surprising to us that we're seeing an increased number of people being affected by this," Henry said of the Haro Park outbreak on Wednesday. "Unfortunately, we know that this has quite a long incubation period so those who had been exposed before the first cases were recognized are those who are now developing illness."

On Monday, Henry also confirmed a death related to the virus at the facility, though she said on Wednesday none of theresidents and health-care workers at Haro Park with known COVID-19 cases were hospitalized all were either staying home or remaining at the facility.

"What's really important is the measures being taken in Haro Park to prevent all those people who have been exposed before and now developing illness to make sure that they're isolated as they develop their illness so they're not passing it on to others," said Henry.

She said another long-term care home, Broadway Pentecostal Lodge, had been struck by the virus by Wednesday, making it the seventh such facility with coronavirus cases.