Four more COVID deaths at struggling care home
The four new COVID-19-related deaths reported by Ottawa Public Health on Thursday all occurred at Extendicare Starwood, a longterm care home in Ottawa's west end.
Since an outbreak was declared Sept. 25 at the Starwood Road facility, near Baseline Road and Woodroffe Avenue, officials there confirm that 10 residents have died. According to OPH's figures, 111 of Starwood's residents and 32 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last six weeks.
“Our hearts are with our community and those who have lost loved ones to this virus during this very challenging time,” the company said in an email.
“This is a deeply concerning time for our residents, families and staff,” it added, “and we are in touch with them frequently about our progress as we continue to manage this situation. We have brought in additional staff from other homes to assist in providing care. The home has had an ample supply of PPE to meet all provincial directives both before and during this outbreak.”
OPH additionally reported one new workplace outbreak on Thursday, as well as a single new outbreak at a health-care institution and another at a childcare or education setting. Those latter two were offset by two other outbreaks at similar institutions being cleared.
The four deaths reported Thursday brought the city's total to 334. OPH also reported 51 new confirmed cases, bringing Ottawa's total since January to 7,324.
Elsewhere in the region, the Eastern Ontario Health Unit reported 23 new cases, for a total of 660, while Hastings Prince Edward Public Health's two new confirmed cases brought their total to 81.
Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Public Health, Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit, and Renfrew County and District Health Unit all reported no new cases.
The Outaouais region reported 29 new cases, for a total of 2,646 cases. There were also three new deaths, including two at a retirement home, bringing the region's COVID-19 death toll to 51.
Ontario, meanwhile, reported 998 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 13 new deaths on Thursday.
The new figures, which include reported cases to Wednesday afternoon, bring the overall totals to 80,690 cases and 3,195 deaths in Ontario since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Toronto and Peel remain the provincial hot spots, with 350 and 269 new confirmed cases, respectively, or 82 per cent of the province's total.
Quebec reported 1,138 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, the highest number of new infections reported in one day since midOctober.
A total of 538 people are in hospital in Quebec with COVID-19. That's one fewer than the previous day. Among those, 82 are in intensive care, an increase of one.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Quebec has reported 111,056 cases and 6,378 deaths linked to COVID-19.