Ontario acts on care home outbreaks
Ford announces ‘swat teams,’ more staff and testing, new rules
Amid criticism that the provincial government has not acted quickly enough to prevent more deaths in long-term care homes, Premier Doug Ford announced plans Wednesday to send hospital-based “COVID -19 swat teams” to help manage outbreaks and expand testing to include more asymptomatic residents, among other initiatives.
“We are in the fight of our lives right now,” Ford told a news conference during which he announced a COVID-19 action plan for long-term care homes.
“We owe it to our most vulnerable, we owe it to their families and loved ones to fight this terrible virus until the end.”
More than 140 residents have died in outbreaks at long-term care homes and other institutions in the province since the pandemic began. About 18 per cent of the province’s long-term care homes now have outbreaks, including an ongoing deadly outbreak at Almonte Country Haven where 18 residents have died.
Among initiatives to stop the spread of COVID-19 in long-term care homes, the province issued an emergency order this week banning staff at the homes from working at more than one location, something that is common among low-paid long-term care workers. The order, which goes into effect next week, will last just 14 days.
It is something other provinces have already done and many have called for in Ontario. But Ontario’s NDP leader says the order contains a loophole that would allow temporary workers to continue working at more than one location.
“Restrictions much tighter than these should have been put in place weeks ago,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.
The province also announced it will:
■ Redeploy staff from hospitals and home and community care to boost the workforce at understaffed long-term care homes.
■ Expand testing, screening and surveillance in long-term care homes, including screening all symptomatic staff and residents along with their asymptomatic contacts. The province also will test all asymptomatic residents and staff in targeted homes to help provincial health officials better understand how it is spreading in the homes.
■ Deploy infection control “SWAT teams” with the help of hospitals and health units.
The provincial government says it will also conduct “risk and capacity assessments” for all homes, enhance training and education for staff working in outbreaks and offer more guidance on personal protective equipment in homes.
The risk assessment, it says, will help identify homes that should be a priority for outbreak management and prevention help. Infection prevention and control teams are to be deployed to the highest-risk homes starting within 48 hours, according to documents released Wednesday.
The province says it has prioritized supplying personal protective equipment to care homes, answering requests from 102 longterm care homes and 16 retirement homes over the Easter weekend.
The actions come as the death count among residents of longterm care homes in the province continues to grow. Ford is facing criticism that the government didn’t act more aggressively after a deadly outbreak began at a Bobcaygeon nursing home in March that eventually would take the lives of 29 residents.
On Wednesday, both Ford and Long-Term Care Minister Dr. Merrilee Fullerton defended the actions the government is taking and vowed to do whatever it takes to protect the province’s long-term care residents.
“We are in extraordinary times. COVID-19 continues to spread, the likes of which we have never seen,” Fullerton said.
“We have acted quickly and decisively, but despite our efforts, this virus continues to spread.”
She also defended the Progressive Conservative government’s earlier move to restrict annual inspections of long-term care homes and focus only on the highest-risk homes. According to a report from CBC, just nine homes in the province underwent comprehensive annual testing last year — something that previously was done at all homes.
Critics say the move to go into most homes only when there is a complaint means many issues never get addressed at long-term care homes. Families of residents, who are often the ones sparking complaints on behalf of their loved ones, say that is especially true during the pandemic, when families are not able to go inside the home.
“We moved to risk-based assessments,” Fullerton said. “We hoped it would identify those homes in the greatest need.”
All homes, she added, have inspectors in every year.
Fullerton said the province is talking with the federal government about increasing wages of long-term care workers, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed to on Wednesday.
Ford called the actions announced Wednesday an enhancement of steps the province began taking weeks ago when visitors were restricted, active screening began and homes were given flexibility to help them deploy staff where most needed.
In Ottawa and Eastern Ontario, as with the rest of the province, the biggest concentration of COVID-19 cases and a large proportion of deaths are in longterm care homes and other institutions.
Almonte Country Haven has the worst outbreak in the region. But there are also outbreaks at:
■ Stoneridge Manor in Carleton Place, where two people have died and 29 residents and 19 staff had tested positive as of earlier this week.
■ Montfort Long Term Care Home in Ottawa’s east end, where 24 residents and three staff members had tested positive.
■ Carlingview Manor on Carling Avenue, where five residents and eight staff had tested positive as of Tuesday, according to family members.
■ Promenade in Orléans, where three residents have died.
Ottawa Public Health has also reported 15 known outbreaks of COVID-19 at long-term care homes and other institutions in the city. In addition to those above, they include Kanata Garden Terrace, Maplewood Retirement Community, Manoir Marochel, Madonna Care Community, Villa Marconi, Waterford Retirement and Cité Parkway. There also are outbreaks at the Civic and General campuses of The Ottawa Hospital and at Montfort Hospital.