A group of workers building the Patient Care Tower at Royal Inland Hospital has tested positive for COVID-19.

“This is not an outbreak and we can assure the local community, hospital staff, patients, visitors and other contractors that the exposure was limited to crew [which] did not mingle with others on site,” a statement from Interior Health said.

“Their movement was limited around the hospital and within the community. We are confident the hospital area and staff were not exposed.”

IHA says the primary contractor, EllisDon, closed the site down voluntarily yesterday, Nov. 2, to do a deep cleaning ‘out of an abundance of caution’ once the exposure was confirmed.

It’s not immediately clear when the exposure was confirmed, but there were 36 cases of COVID-19 reported across the Interior yesterday.

“At this time we can’t confirm the number of cases, however we are working with Interior Health public health officers to make sure everyone at the site is safe,” EllisDon Director of Marketing and Communcations Dustin Luchka told NL News.

“Work is back underway today and we are working with public health officials with Interior Health and following their advice.”

IHA says the workers are now self-isolating while public health teams are completing contact tracing.