Coronavirus community outbreak confirmed at Kelowna agricultural business

Apr 1 2020, 6:33 pm

Provincial health authorities have confirmed a community outbreak of COVID-19 involving a group of temporary foreign workers at a West Kelowna agricultural business.

In a statement Tuesday, BC’s Interior Health Authority said it is currently investigating the outbreak at Bylands Nurseries Ltd.

“On March 27, an IH Medical Health Officer placed an order on Bylands Nurseries Ltd.,” reads the notice, adding that the cases “may be linked to a group of workers who arrived in Kelowna from outside of Canada on March 12.”

The health authority says the foreign workers living in on-site housing are to remain in quarantine on the property until the Medical Health Officer (MHO) “provides an alternate direction.”

Interior Health reports that the risk of exposure to the general public is low, as “none of the workers were in roles that interact with customers, and members of this group had very minimal contact in the community.”

The business is entirely closed to customers and has undergone enhanced cleaning of all its facilities.

According to BC’s COVID-19 numbers released Monday, there are currently 1,013 known cases in the province.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix will be providing an update on the case numbers Wednesday afternoon at 3 pm.

DH Vancouver StaffDH Vancouver Staff

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