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Care home at the centre of B.C.’s largest fatal COVID outbreak reports new case

A staff member at Langley Lodge was reported positive for the coronavirus Friday
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Langley Lodge, a long-term care facility opened in 1974, is located in the centre of Langley City on 204th Street. It has been the focus of an outbreak with a loss of more than two dozen residents related to COVID. The latest outbreak was reported Friday, Oct. 2. (Langley Advance Times files)

A long-term Langley care home that reported the largest number of deaths to COVID-19 has reported another outbreak as of Friday, Oct. 2.

Langley Lodge lost 25 residents this past spring to the pandemic, after two outbreaks – the first in March and the second in April.

Now, Fraser Health has reported another case in the 204th Street facility.

Chief executive officer Debra Hauptman has confirmed she’s received notification that a staff member from Langley Lodge tested positive for the coronavirus.

“This staff member is self-isolating at home,” Hauptman said, noting the care home – run by a non-profit organization – is working with public health to identify “anyone who may have been exposed.”

Primary contacts for residents of the long-term care facility are being notified, and Hauptman said “all precautionary steps [are being taken] to protect the health of all residents and staff.”

Langley Lodge was initially hit with the first COVID-19 outbreak at the end of March, when a staff member was diagnosed. That outbreak was declared over on April 23.

This latest outbreaks in the 204th Street facility was reported on April 28, during which 51 residents were diagnosed. Two dozen died, while 27 residents recovered. Since then, however, one of the patients who survived the virus has also succumbed to advanced dementia.

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Then, the centre was back in the news just two weeks ago, when an internal report from Hauptman was leaked in which she chronicles the deadly outbreaks and brought into question some of the protocols put in place and steps taken during the two COVID-19 outbreaks that claimed more lives than at any other facility in B.C.

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“The intent of the report is to share our experience with other operators, to inform planning for further outbreaks, and for a potential second wave in the fall,” Hauptman said, defending her report.

A copy of the report has been requested from Langley Lodge, but that media request was refused. Now, a formal Freedom of Information Request has been submitted to Fraser Health for the report and any other related correspondence.

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Roxanne Hooper

About the Author: Roxanne Hooper

I began in the news industry at age 15, but honestly, I knew I wanted to be a community journalist even before that.
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