Two more seniors die of COVID-19
Outbreak re-declared at Wentworth Lodge after three positive tests
The COVID-19 outbreak at St. Peter’s Hospital is over but the news was clouded by the death of an 83-year-old patient.
The man’s death on Monday is the first fatality in the outbreak in the 3 West Palliative Care Unit at the chronic-care hospital on Maplewood Avenue.
“We are saddened,” Hamilton Health Sciences said in a statement. “Our deepest condolences are extended to the patient’s family and friends.”
Another senior has also died in the outbreak at Cardinal Retirement Residence that ended May 3. The 81-year-old man died in hospital Monday and was the eighth death at the retirement home on Herkimer Street linked to COVID-19. It has been the city’s worst outbreak with 47 residents and 18 staff infected since it started April 1.
The two new COVID-19 deaths bring the total in Hamilton to 23. Of those, 17 have died in outbreaks with the majority being in seniors’ homes.
“It is a heartbreaking situation what’s happened in a number of long-term care homes,” said Health Minister Christine Elliott. “The deaths are tragic.”
The outbreak at St. Peter’s came to an end Wednesday with a total of five residents and five staff testing positive. The hospital is also open to new palliativecare admissions for the first time since the outbreak started April 20.
HHS has tested all patients at St. Peter’s and no others are positive. It’s a different story in long-term care, where outbreaks have been re-declared in two
Hamilton homes after provincially mandated mass testing.
Three asymptomatic residents are infected at Wentworth Lodge in Dundas, which had an outbreak from April 4 to April 15 after a staff member tested positive. Heritage Green Nursing Home has also had three asymptomatic residents test positive on May 1 — just days after the outbreak at the Stoney Creek long-term care centre was declared over. Four seniors died in the original outbreak that saw 12 residents and three staff infected.
Two Hamilton health-care leaders have now questioned the value of mass testing, including Dr. Dominik Mertz, an associate professor in McMaster University’s Division of Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Bart Harvey, an associate medical officer of health. Harvey later apologized making it clear his opinions were not a reflection of the city.
In fact, Hamilton is ahead of the provincial requirement to have 50 per cent of long-term care staff and residents tested by Friday.
Mertz told The Spectator’s Katrina Clarke it’s too soon to know how or if mass testing will help stop the spread, raising concern that residents will be harmed by outbreak restrictions for no benefit.
The doubts in Hamilton are at odds with the premier, the prime minster and federal public health officials, who say increased testing is critical. “We do know, based on more and more information, that this virus can spread in the presymptomatic and asymptomatic stage,” said Dr. Teresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer.
Testing is a key pillar in both the provincial and federal frameworks to easing back physical distancing and reopening the economy.
Ontario started gradually allowing select businesses to open May 4 with more added to the list from Friday to Monday. Some can open their stories while others are limited to curbside pickup and delivery. Businesses not listed yet are encouraged to go to ontario.ca/ coronavirus to prepare.
“We will continue to take the best health advice in regards to timing,” said Finance Minister Rod Phillips. “The people in Ontario have to have the confidence that we’re doing this in such a way that they can feel safe.”
However, Premier Doug Ford said he “wanted to be clear (that) all public health measures remain in place and will be strictly enforced.”
He also ruled out allowing some parts of Ontario that haven’t been hit as hard by COVID-19 to open up faster than others.
“If they loosen up restrictions in one area, guess where all the people from Toronto and the GTA are going,” he said.
Workers in long-term care homes staged their fourth day of action Wednesday, holding up signs of personal protective equipment (PPE) with the words, “Help us.” The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which organized the quiet protest, says 3,013 health-care workers have been infected in Ontario as of Wednesday, and five have died.
“We see these numbers continuing to climb sharply,” said Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions.
Premier Doug Ford acknowledged again Wednesday that COVID-19 has revealed Ontario’s long-term care system “is absolutely broken.”
“This is what keeps me up at night,” he said. “This ship had cracks in it when we inherited it. It’s been going on for decades. It’s not about one government ... I’m not going to point the fingers at the previous government or the government before that. The system is broken, we are going to fix it.”
However, he continued to express frustration with ongoing reports of shortages of PPE.
“I’m up here every day saying the same thing, ‘We have PPE, we can ship within 24 hours,’ ” said Ford. “I think we’ve sent probably half a dozen letters to long-term care homes. I guess we’ll send out another one saying the same thing.”
CUPE blames shortages of PPE for health-care workers making up nearly 16 per cent of Ontario’s confirmed cases, although they’re also more likely to be tested.
“We know that there is a direct link between the lack of access to proper protective equipment and the health-care workers who currently have COVID-19,” said Candace Rennick, secretary-treasurer at CUPE Ontario. “The reality is the lack of access to proper protective equipment on the front line continues to exist.”
Hamilton had nine new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday bringing the total to 462 — plus six more probable cases. Burlington has 95 confirmed cases, 15 probable and seven deaths.
Provincewide there are 18,722 confirmed cases and 1,429 people have died — with 1,074 of those deaths in long-term care.