COVID-19 outbreak declared after 14 cases found at LNG project in northern B.C.

Photo: Contributed

LNG Canada Project Site in Kitimat, B.C.

More than a dozen cases of COVID-19 have been contracted in northwest B.C.

As a result, Northern Health has declared an outbreak at the LNG Canada Project Site in Kitimat where 14 employees tested positive for the virus and have gone into self-isolation, along with any close contacts.

JGC Fluor is the prime contractor, the authority says, and contact management and tracing ‘have gone well’ since the outbreak was detected and will remain in place for a minimum of 28 days.

There are 32 other employees at the LNG project and are self-isolating themselves at the work site, while the rest are doing so in their own home community.

“Northern Health, LNG Canada, and JGC Fluor have been working together on planning, preparing and implementing COVID-19 measures since early spring and continue to work closely to ensure enhanced control measures are followed, to protect the health of all staff,” a news release states this afternoon (Nov. 19).

“Northern Health is working with the BCCDC to ensure communication with the health authorities or jurisdictions of the affected employees’ home communities.”

This is the third current facility outbreak in northern B.C.’s region, adding to two long-term care homes already on alert in the northeast.

Two men died in Dawson Creek’s Rotary Manor after contracting the virus; its outbreak was declared on Nov. 2 after a single-staff member tested positive for COVID-19.

In Fort St. John, the Peace Villa Residential Care Home was one of three new facilities in B.C. maked for the virus after a case was found in a worker on site.