Death toll mounts at Montfort care centre

COVID -19 has claimed seven more lives in Ottawa as the city’s death toll climbed to 32 on Wednesday, with more than 70 per cent of those — 23 deaths — occurring in the city’s long-term care and retirement homes.

Montfort Long-Term Care Centre has been the hardest hit with 11 COVID-19 deaths and a facility-wide outbreak that has sickened 42 residents and six staff members.

Four deaths have occurred at Promenade in Orléans, three each at Carlingview Manor and Madonna Care Community, and one each at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and The Ottawa Hospital General Campus.

The dire situation in Ontario’s care homes prompted Premier Doug Ford to ask for the federal government’s help to deal with the novel coronavirus pandemic, including the use of military personnel and Public Health Agency of Canada resources. Initially, those resources will be put into five of Ontario’s hardest-hit homes.

“We’re in the thick of a raging battle against COVID-19 in our long-term care homes. And when you’re in a fight like this, you leave nothing on the table,” Ford said Wednesday.

But there was also a sliver of good news from the hard-hit Almonte Country Haven residence, where 23 of the 82 residents have died of COVID -19 complications. Country Haven reported Wednesday that “a significant number of residents are showing signs of improvement, with more than 10 residents having resolved symptoms.”

Over all, Ontario once again reported fewer new confirmed cases of COVID-19 than it saw the previous day — 510 new cases on Wednesday compared with 551 on Tuesday. The number of new deaths also fell by one, to 37.

Since the beginning of the outbreak, 659 people in Ontario have died from complications related to COVID-19 and 12,245 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

In Ottawa, however, the number of confirmed infections continued to climb. Ottawa Public Health reported 44 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, bringing the total to 943.

Even so, Dr. Vera Etches, medical officer of health, said that there have been some optimistic signs as the number of people hospitalized with the illness appears to have stabilized. Of the 36 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Ottawa (one more than Tuesday), 10 are in intensive care. It will take two weeks of monitoring hospitalizations to confirm trends, she said.

“The physical distancing is still critical to maintain,” Etches said, noting that the majority of the population hasn’t been exposed to the virus and wouldn’t be immune.

Meanwhile, city manager Steve Kanellakos told council Wednesday that the city’s emergency management centre has moved from a response posture to a recovery mode in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Starting May 1, the City of Ottawa will allow property maintenance and landscaping businesses to operate, a change from the current provincial rule that only allows these services on a “limited, emergency basis.” But there are still limits on the work lawn-care and landscaping companies are allowed to do — no esthetic projects, for the time being.