Nursing homes on front lines
COVID-19’S IMPACT ON NURSING HOMES WORSE THAN EXPECTED: PM
The sweep of COVID19 throughout Canada’s nursing homes is proving more devastating than expected, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday as he warned that reopening the economy too early would be “absolutely disastrous.”
With the number of deaths from COVID-19 in Canada nearing 1,200 — and seniors by far the hardest-hit group — the prime minister said Ottawa would discuss additional supports for provinces in tackling outbreaks in longterm care homes, including a request by Quebec for military relief.
“I think one of the things we’ve seen over the past number of weeks is a far more severe impact on a number of seniors’ residences and long-term care centres than we had certainly hoped for, or more than we feared,” Trudeau said.
“It is impossible to imagine the anguish families and indeed our elders are going through in this situation — there is just so much fear, so much uncertainty,” he said.
“We need to do a better job of being there for them. The federal government is looking at ways to support the provinces, as they deal with this issue.”
While the overall curve of new confirmed COVID-19 cases is “bending,” the proportion of outbreaks in long-term care homes has led to a higher death rate than expected, Canada’s top doctor said.
Dr. Theresa Tam, the country’s chief public health officer, said more than 90 per cent of the patients confirmed to have died from the virus are over the age of 60, and half of them lived in long-term care homes.
However, seniors are not the only vulnerable group, she said, noting more must be done to help people experiencing homelessness and precarious housing — conditions that also make it difficult to maintain physical distancing and handwashing protocols.
“Without immediate action there will be more outbreaks and avoidable deaths with broader societal and public health implications ... We cannot crush this curve unless and until everyone is looked after,” she said.
There are more than 30,000 presumptive and confirmed cases of the virus across Canada, including 1,193 deaths and 9,701 resolved cases. Tam said models are now predicting 1,200 and 1,620 deaths by April 21.
While some provinces, including New Brunswick and Prince Edward
Island, reported no new cases Thursday, the numbers continued to rise by the hundreds in the two provinces hardest hit by the virus.
Quebec recorded 997 new cases, for a total of 15,857, including 143 new deaths. So far, 630 people have died from the disease in the province.
Premier Francois Legault said most of the newly recorded deaths had not occurred over the last day but were added following a change in data collection methods.
Some 2,000 doctors reponded to Legault’s call for assistance in the province’s overburdened long-term care homes, he said, but the federal government said the province has also formally requested military support.
“Obviously, it’s going to be a big challenge to have everyone work together, people who are not used to working together,” Legault said of the new dynamic, but he invited everyone to “put a little bit of water in our wine.”