Five more deaths, two at Southgate Care Centre
Hinshaw bends the rules to allow more workers to take shifts at Southgate
Five deaths linked to COVID-19 were reported in the province Monday, including two at the Good Samaritan Southgate Care Centre.
The latest deaths at the facility, a man in his 80s and a woman in her 90s, brings its total to 27.
A man and a women, both in their 60s, died in the south zone and a man in his 60s in northern Alberta also died from COVID-19 over the weekend. Monday’s update provided information from over the weekend as the province no longer releases data on Saturdays or Sundays.
The Southgate Care Centre confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on June 13 with the first death coming a month later. The facility’s outbreak is now linked to more deaths than any other long-term care home in Alberta.
Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said the province is allowing for additional workers to take shifts at the facility to ensure staff can provide for patients and limit the spread of the virus.
The province restricted continuing care workers to work at one site to limit the spread of the virus in April. The Southgate Care Centre received an exemption to this rule on July 25.
“I do not make exceptions lightly,” said Hinshaw. “But I also need to ensure that residents get the care they need, and that it’s done in a way that does not put others at risk.
NDP health critic David Shepherd said the government needs to take a more direct role in order to take control of the situation.
“If we got a site where it is basically a hot zone for COVID -19, having staff moving in and out of that facility to other facilities is one of the most dangerous steps to take when we are trying to contain that outbreak,” he said.
Shepherd said the government could look to hire contract workers or assign Alberta Health Services staff to the site, similar to how the B.C. government co-ordinated its health-care workers. He said the Alberta government could also offer incentives such as hazard pay or offer to boost wages to attract more workers to the site.
The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) called on Health Minister Tyler Shandro to have Alberta Health Services (AHS) take over operations at the Southgate Care Centre.
“Almost two weeks ago, AUPE called on AHS to take over operations,” said AUPE vice-president Susan Slade in a news release. “It’s clear they should have listened to us then. It’s not too late. We call on (Shandro) to act now to save lives. Putting this home under the control (of the) public health system is the only acceptable solution.”
Hinshaw said the decision to have AHS take over the facility is not mutually exclusive with allowing for an exemption. She said a takeover has more to do with administration and accountability, while an exemption is to ensure there is enough staff who can go to work.
“A single-site exemption really was required in this case because the care of the residents was at risk if they couldn’t get additional staff to be able to provide the all-around supports those residents needed,” said Hinshaw.
There were 257 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Alberta on Monday. That number is made up of cases identified throughout the weekend. There were 108 identified on Aug. 7, 101 on Aug. 8 and 48 on Aug. 9.
At total of 10,384 people in Alberta have recovered from the virus and 213 people have died. There are currently 66 people in hospital with COVID -19, 13 of whom are in intensive care. There are 1,090 active cases in the province.
There have been 120,132 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 8,987 related deaths across the country, latest numbers from Health Canada show. Globally there has been 19,718,030 cases and 728,013 deaths, reports the World Health Organization.