Influenza A Outbreak Declared in Entire Louis Brier Home and Hospital

Written By Adaptive

This is to inform you that the Medical Health Officer (MHO) declared an Influenza A outbreak in the entire Louis Brier Home and Hospital (LBHH) yesterday, August 31, 2026. We have three (3) residents who tested positive for Influenza A in Home Centre and one (1) resident in Home East.

Based on MHO’s guidance, VCH outbreak toolkit, and LBHH/WR IPAC direction:

General Updates

  • ‍An influenza outbreak has been declared for the entire LBHH facility, with additional restrictions applied to Home Centre North and Home East

  • Increase to twice-daily wellness checks for symptomatic residents.

  • Daily wellness checks for asymptomatic residents.

‍ ‍Precautions for Symptomatic and VRI Positive Residents

  • As per the toolkit, once an outbreak is declared, there is no need to send samples from Home Centre-N and Home East.

  • If there are cases on non-affected units, continue to send samples.

  • Swab residents who meet the case definition:

    • New or Worsening Cough or Fever PLUS one of the following symptoms: 

      • Shortness of Breath

      • Runny or Stuffy Nose

      • Sore Throat, Hoarseness

      • Difficulty Swallowing

      • Body Aches

      • Headache

  • Place Influenza positive and suspected residents on Droplet & Contact Precautions.

  • After 5 days, staff to assess resident

    • Is the fever resolved for 24 hours without getting anything to reduce the fever?

    • Have the resident’s symptoms improved, understanding that there may be an ongoing residual cough?

      • If these are met, then the resident can come off isolation.

  • Residents testing negative, remove from precautions 24 hours after improvement in symptoms and resolution of fever without the use of fever reducing medication.

  • Increase screening of close contacts (tablemates/roommates) to twice daily for 3 days from date of last exposure.

  • Influenza Prophylaxis and Treatment: Per the pre-printed orders, start Tamiflu treatment doses for all confirmed cases of Influenza and prophylaxis doses for all unaffected residents across the entire facility 

Group Activities

  • ‍ Suspend all group activities on IC (Home Centre, Home East, and Home West)

  • Group activities may continue in SCU and EC (Hospital East and Hospital West), however, participation must be limited to residents from their respective units only. IC residents are restricted to join group activities in SCU and EC.

  • Asymptomatic residents may not leave the affected unit to participate in other unit activities.

  • 1:1 activity is allowed.

‍Group Dining

  • ‍ ‍Lab-confirmed cases and symptomatic residents should receive tray service

  • Communal dining can continue for asymptomatic residents, though no food should be shared, and this should be limited to people in the affected unit (cohorted to the floor).

‍Admissions and Transfers

  • ‍Suspend admissions and transfers. New admissions and re-admissions/transfers can be considered on a case-by case basis with the MHO.

‍Workflow

  • ‍Cohort staff where possible - when cohorting is not possible, staff are to move from asymptomatic to symptomatic residents on the unit.

Symptomatic Residents with AGMPs

  • Place any resident VRI suspected or confirmed positive on Airborne and Contact Precautions for the duration of CPAP/BiPAP/nebulizer therapy.

‍Visitors‍ ‍

  • Visitation may continue. No adjustment to visitation protocols.

  • Visitors should be informed of the presence of an outbreak and associated risks and provided with education about precautions, hand hygiene and PPE donning/doffing.

    • Symptomatic visitors should not enter the affected unit unless for compassionate or exceptional circumstances.

    • When visiting residents on precautions, please support visitors with proper hand hygiene and donning/doffing of PPE. 

‍Discontinuing Droplet and Contact Precautions

  • ‍Coordinate an “additional precautions clean” with the residents having a bath/shower when Droplet and Contact Precautions are discontinued.

‍Companions

  • ‍The Companion Coordinator will arrange companion schedule and assignments to prevent crossing over between symptomatic and asymptomatic residents and, as much as possible, between affected unit and other units.

  • Companions who develop symptoms at home to follow up with their own healthcare provider. Symptomatic companions should remain at home until their symptoms resolve. Coordinate with Companion Coordinator prior to coming back to work.

  • Companions to notify any other employers about outbreak in the facility

  • Reinforce use point of care risk assessment for PPE use.

  • Follow proper Donning and Doffing procedures for PPE use. Refer to signage.

  • In addition, Influenza antiviral prophylaxis and treatment have been ordered by the MHO. We will initiate Tamiflu (oseltamivir) treatment doses for all residents with confirmed Influenza A and prophylactic doses for all unaffected residents across the entire LBHH facility as soon as the medication supply is received from Pharmacy.

  •  Enhanced cleaning and disinfection have also been initiated.


As Weinberg Residence is not currently in an outbreak, please limit movement/crossing over from LBHH to Weinberg Residence to essential services only. Everyone should avoid unnecessary movement between the two sites to minimize the risk of transmission.

Thank you for your continued cooperation and vigilance in helping prevent the further spread of infection within our community.

Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or require clarification regarding the outbreak measures.

Adaptive
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