Terrace dental clinic say no staff experiencing COVID-19 symptoms 22 days after dental conference

A Terrace dental clinic says a number of employees who were self-isolating following a provincial order have passed the medical community’s threshold for COVID-19 symptoms to show up.

It has been 22 days since three doctors and two assistants working at Park Avenue Dental (PAD) attended the Pacific Dental Conference held in Vancouver from March 5-7.

The clinic said that on March 16, following revelations that the virus had spread inadvertently at the conference, an order was issued by Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and that all attendees were told to self-isolate until March 22nd.

READ MORE: B.C. dentist conference attendees warned of coronavirus risk

“It is our current understanding that anyone exposed to the virus will show symptoms within 14 days,” PAD said in an emailed statement to The Terrace Standard.

They added that the Province was very clear that people who did not attend the conference and only had contact with attendees (such as patients who were seen before staff went into isolation or family members of attendees) were at a low risk of contracting the virus and were fine to continue practicing regular social distancing without a need for self-isolation.

Going forward PAD has cancelled all appointments until further notice. The clinic said anyone in a dental or emergency can call the clinic and that they will provide advice over the phone and, if applicable, determine the next steps of action for anyone they assess to be in a dental emergency.

“The College of Dental Surgeons of BC and BC Dental Association are working on a standardized triage tree to help us determine what is critical and what is not,” the clinic added.