READY TO STEP IN
Ontario government issues new emergency order on long-term-care homes
TORONTO—Ontario issued a new emergency order on Wednesday allowing it to temporarily replace management at some long-term-care homes struggling to contain COVID-19 outbreaks, but the province’s health minister said there are no immediate plans to use the sweeping tool.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said the new measure is meant to strengthen protections for vulnerable seniors in those facilities and ensure the province can move rapidly in case a home needs urgent help.
Thus far, Elliott said, longterm-care homes have co-operated with hospitals, which have provided some resources and supervision, but should a home resist that aid, the province can invoke this order.
“The making of this emergency order doesn’t mean that we’re going to do anything with it right now,” she said. “It’s just a tool in our toolbox to use if we need it so that we can move in rapidly if there’s some care homes that continue to have problems and are resistant to having any assistance.”
According to the latest government data, more than 1,200 long-term-care residents have died of COVID-19 in the province, and 180 homes have outbreaks of the virus.
The order allows the province to step in if a facility has a high number of infections or deaths, or if it’s facing a staffing shortage. The province said the appointed manager could be any person, corporation or hospital.
But Elliott said the wording of the order does not mean control of more homes will be handed over, even temporarily, to for-profit corporations.
“What we would anticipate is that there would be more hospital involvement with longterm care,” she said. “A hospital is a corporation as well.”
Last week, the government asked facilities with outbreaks to come up with a plan to stabilize the virus’s spread within their walls. That followed the province calling in members of the Canadian Forces to help in some homes facing staffing shortages.
The president of the Service Employees International Union Healthcare, which represents workers in long-termcare homes, said the government’s emergency order should have been invoked weeks ago and used without delay.
“It’s disappointing for (Elliott) to say if we need to use it, we will use it,” Sharleen Stewart said. “I could list 10 homes where she could use it immediately.”
Opposition critics said the measure comes far too late to respond to the outbreaks that have spread throughout the homes, an accusation Premier Doug Ford denied.
“We’re going to respectfully disagree about slow to respond,” Ford said. “We’re responding rapidly day by day and through the advice of our chief medical officer.”
Ontario reported 329 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday and 40 more deaths. That brings the province to a total of 21,236 cases, including 1,765 deaths and 15,845 cases that have been resolved. The new cases represent an increase of 1.6 per cent over the previous day.