Staff replaced shared blood pressure bracelets and other medical devices in Vancouver Coastal Health’s long-term care services after studies revealed that the appliance would likely be at risk of COVID-19 contamination.
They took samples from 3 long-term care homes suffering from COVID-19 outbreaks, the fitness government announced Friday, rubbing 89 surfaces, adding entrances, kitchens, non-unusual areas, nursing stations and care areas.
Six of the samples tested for the new coronavirus.
Person-to-person transmission is believed to be the leading cause of epidemics in long-term care facilities, VCH said, although it has shown that medical devices are a possible direction of transmission.
The virus was detected in 4 of the nine popular tested reusable blood pressure bracelets, as well as in the care of a cell laundry cart and on the touchscreen of an electronic pill used for drug records.
Initial findings, which were in the American Journal of Infection Control, have led to adjustments to their long-term care facilities, the fitness authority said.
Blood stress bracelets and other shared medical devices have been replaced with disposable bracelets or compromised appliances shared among patients.
“The effects reported our reaction to long-term care epidemics and underscore the desire to be alert against COVID-19,” said Dr. Michael Schwandt, Medical Health Officer and co-author of the article in a press release.
“Doing this kind of study not only helps us manage epidemics now, it adds to the science about the transmission of COVID-19 so that VCH and other skill governments have a greater understanding of this new virus and we can respond better in the future. »
Nineteen other people died of COVID-19 at Holy Family Hospital, the site of the only outbreak underway in the Vancouver Coastal Health area. Fifty-three citizens and 35 members were diagnosed with the disease.