Death toll up to 100 at Laval CHSLD that was hit hard by pandemic
The CHSLD hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec has become the first to record 100 deaths among long-term care residences in the province.
According to figures released by the provincial government this week, the CHSLD Ste-dorothée in Laval remains among the residences still being monitored in an effort to prevent further spread of the coronavirus.
An application for a class-action lawsuit filed against CHSLD Ste-dorothée in April alleges it did not isolate two employees who reported having symptoms of the virus on March 22 and that the first resident to test positive for COVID -19 was recorded four days later. At one point in May, nearly all of the residents at CHSLD Ste-dorothée had tested positive for the virus.
Twenty-nine CHSLDS and 38 private residences are still required to report how many residents have the virus. In all, they have recorded 1,094 deaths that can be attributed to COVID-19. CHSLD Ste-dorothée reported this week that none of its residents have the virus.
None of the CHSLDS in Montreal currently have infection rates above two per cent. That is a far cry from April 30, when at least four reported that more than two-thirds of their residents had the virus.
The government’s latest figures also indicate that the virus managed to spread quickly through some Montreal-area CHSLDS several weeks after it was apparent the virus could have a devastating toll on a residence for the elderly.
The Centre d’hebergement Notre-dame-de-la-merci, a CHSLD on Gouin Blvd. in Ahuntsic, has recorded 94 deaths attributed to the virus. At the end of April, the CHSLD was not among the 10 hardest-hit residences in terms of their reported infection rates. But it has since recorded the second-highest number of deaths.
At the end of April, the CHSLD Laurendeau, four kilometres east of CHSLD Notre-dame-de-lamerci,
reported that 182, or 61 per cent, of its residents, had tested positive for COVID-19. As of this week, 92 residents have died of COVID -19 at CHSLD Laurendeau.