Northern Health Medical Health Officers have declared a COVID-19 outbreak on the Primary Care Medical Unit (PCMU) at the University Hospital of Northern BC (UHNBC) in Prince George, following lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 among patients and staff.
Nine patients and one staff member have tested positive for COVID-19 in association with the outbreak, and monitoring and testing is underway to identify any additional cases.
Enhanced outbreak control measures are in place at UHNBC. The facility is taking steps to protect the health of staff and those they care for, with enhanced outbreak precautions such as (but not limited to):
- Increased frequency of cleaning and infection control measures
- Enhanced symptom monitoring among all PCMU staff and patients
- Limiting movement of staff and patient between care areas of the hospital
- Restricting the unit to essential visitors only
Public health officials will be monitoring the situation carefully over coming weeks and will only declare the outbreak over when they are confident that chains of transmission have been stopped.
More information on public exposures, school exposures, and facility or community outbreaks of COVID-19 within the Northern Health region, is available here: www.northernhealth.ca/health-topics/public-exposures-and-outbreaks