COVID-19 outbreak at Prince Rupert care home where 16 died earlier this year

PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. – Just weeks after a deadly COVID-19 outbreak ended at a northwestern British Columbia care home, health officials report a new outbreak at the same facility.

Northern Health says two residents at Acropolis Manor in Prince Rupert have tested positive for the virus.

In a statement issued Sunday, the agency says the two residents live in the facility’s west pod and proactive testing is underway to identify if any other residents, staff or families have been infected.

Sixteen residents died during a COVID-19 outbreak that began at Acropolis Manor in mid-January and was declared over on March 16.

Some of the highest rates of the virus in B.C. prompted health officials to hold mass vaccination clinics in Prince Rupert and Port Edward last month, immunizing about 85 per cent of area adults.

Recent data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control shows infection rates dipped following those clinics and several others in north coast cities, but cases of COVID-19 remain stubbornly high through the region.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 5, 2021.