NANAIMO — Island Health’s top doctor says the most recent outbreak at a care facility was successfully mitigated by the COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Richard Stanwick said the eight residents of Longlake Chateau independent living facility who contracted COVID-19 only showed symptoms of a “somewhat moderate cold.”
“All eight were immunized. The most severe was of a somewhat moderate cold. That’s it.”
Dr. Stanwick said the virus had a 20 per cent fatality rate in care homes before vaccines were rolled out.
“Compared to a mild cold to probably one or two of those people dying, that speaks to how effective a single dose (of vaccine) is.”
The Chateau was the first facility in Nanaimo to suffer an outbreak since vaccines were widely rolled out to seniors.
It began with five cases on Thursday, March 25 and expanded to eight the next day with no new confirmed cases since.
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