Focus on hospitals hurt care homes, inquiry told

COVID-19 tore through long-term-care residences during first wave; data shows outbreaks on rise again

Long-term-care homes were neglected as Ontario focused on preparing its hospitals for a potential surge in COVID-19 patients when the pandemic hit, doctors told an independent inquiry recently.

But those nursing homes — which had insufficient personal protective equipment, a lack of universal masking policies and physicians refusing to enter facilities over fears of the virus — were in fact where the surge materialized during the first wave, the Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission heard.

Doctors from the non-profit Ontario Long-Term Care Clinicians organization testified before the inquiry at the end of September and detailed how illprepared the sector was for the spread of the novel coronavirus. The inquiry isn’t open to the public.

“In the first wave we didn’t understand that the surge was happening in long-term care,” said Dr. Evelyn Williams, a longtime physician and past president of the organization. “There were empty beds in the hospital, and in the long-termcare home, which was full, they couldn’t — they didn’t have PPE. They could not actually look after everyone who was sick well because they didn’t have the staff, and they couldn’t move people around.”

COVID-19 tore through longterm-care homes in the pandemic’s first wave and has killed more than 1,950 residents. Provincial data shows outbreaks have been increasing in the homes once more as the second wave takes hold.

The commission, led by the Superior Court’s associate chief justice Frank Marrocco, will investigate how the virus spread in the long-term-care system and come up with recommendations.

Dr. Rhonda Collins, the chief medical officer of Revera, which owns numerous longterm-care facilities in Ontario and across North America, told the inquiry that many homes were directed to keep residents out of hospitals as much as possible in order to free up space in hospitals.

That proved to be a deadly decision after dozens of homes were overwhelmed by the virus, the inquiry heard.