UPDATE: COVID-19 outbreak confirmed among group of 75 workers at Bylands Nurseries

(UPDATE: March 31 @ 4:45 pm) - Interior Health has provided more details regarding the COVID-19 outbreak at Bylands Nursery in West Kelowna.

There are 75 total workers involved in the outbreak, with 63 of them being temporary foreign workers and another 12 being local employees.

At this time, there are 14 positive COVID-19 results and additional results are pending.

All workers involved are also employed at Bylands Nurseries Ltd., not the Bylands Garden Centre, which is a separate business located on the same site.

However, both businesses have elected to close voluntarily and everyone involved in this outbreak is self-isolating.

(Original story: March 31 @ 2:45 pm) - An outbreak of COVID-19 among temporary foreign workers at Bylands Nursery in West Kelowna is being investigated, but health officials are confident that risk of exposure to the public is low.

After multiple cases of COVID-19 were confirmed among the group of workers, who live in on-site housing, they were ordered to quarantine on the property on March 27.

None of the workers were in roles that interact with customers and the group had very minimal contact to the community.

The business remains closed to customers at this time.

“The workers live on site in good housing accommodations, which provide space for individuals to be self-isolated safely,” said a statement from Interior Health.

“Bylands Nurseries Ltd. has been fully cooperative with Interior Health throughout this process.”

According to Interior Health, the cases may be linked to a group of workers who arrived in Kelowna from outside the country on March 12.

Interior Health’s Medical Health Officer has ordered Bylands Nursery to undertake several measures, including enhanced cleaning and denying public access to the property.