A second COVID-19 case has been reported at The Florentine in Merritt.

An outbreak was declared on Thursday after one resident tested positive, and the new case is another person who was a close contact, according to staff with the care home. That second case was confirmed on Saturday.

Interior Health chief medical health officer, Dr. Albert de Villiers, acknowledges there has been a recent spike in cases in the Nicola Valley.

“It’s a little bit higher than it used to be, but we do see, I always talk about this cloud, and it seems like we had one a little while ago in communities in the East Kootenays, then we had more cases in the Williams Lake area, and now it seems to be focusing on Merritt.”

The Florentine is the first long-term care home in Merritt to have a COVID-19 outbreak. Several schools in Merritt have also seen exposure… currently there is one active, at Merritt Central Elementary.

The Merritt local health area has a population of 10,850 people, according to Interior Health, and it saw 80 COVID-19 cases between Jan. 24 and Feb. 13.

“We work closely with the schools, we work closely with all the long-term care homes to make sure we keep the cases out of there. We are aware that there are a little bit more than there used to be. And if everybody follows the rules that we’re supposed to follow, then we should be able to control it like we have in other communities as well,” De Villiers says.