By James Peters

COVID-19

Interior Health declares COVID-19 outbreak at RIH Patient Care Tower construction site

Nov 6, 2020 | 3:07 PM

KAMLOOPS — Interior Health (IH) has declared a COVID-19 outbreak at the Royal Inland Hospital Patient Care Tower construction site.

According to IH, there are seven confirmed cases related to the outbreak. Health officials are investigating whether there are any connections to other cases in other jurisdictions.

IH says the seven cases are among those reported in an exposure note earlier this week.

Contact tracing is underway and all cases and their direct contacts are under self-isolation.

IH says the outbreak is limited to the construction site and hospital operations are not affected. There is no evidence anyone in the hospital was exposed. Health officials hope to assure the community that visits to the hospital are still safe.

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Earlier this week, Interior Health confirmed a group of workers at the hospital had tested positive for the virus. However, that was not classified as an outbreak at the time.

IH says it has completed an environmental health inspection of the construction site and has found that “appropriate safety protocols are in place”. It says the risk of further exposure is low and no work stoppage has been ordered.

Primary contractor EllisDon says the outbreak will not impact the project completion timeline for the Patient Care Tower.