Tally underestimates deaths, residents’ committee says
Arruda says delays are inevitable in official numbers
The head of the residents’ committee at one of the six long-term care residences the Quebec government has identified as being the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic says the province is downplaying the number of deaths inside the state-run centres.
Anne Kettenbeil, whose own spouse died of COVID -19 at Montreal’s Centre d’hébergement Alfred-desrochers two weeks ago, says she was shocked to hear the numbers the government released on Thursday.
Premier François Legault said the centre, with five deaths to date, is one of six in the province that together account for one-third of Quebec’s COVID-19 deaths. But the residents’ committee has also been keeping track of the deaths, Kettenbeil said.
She says the total is not five, but rather at least 17.
“I know the government’s numbers aren’t accurate and everyone concerned knows they’re not accurate,” Kettenbeil said, questioning whether the situation in other centres is also worse than the province is saying.
Jean Nicolas Aubé, a spokesperson for the CIUSSS du Centre-sud-de-l’île-de-montréal, which operates the centre, said he couldn’t comment on the discrepancy on Friday.
“An important update to the data is being done right now,” he said.
As recently as Monday, the regional health authority had confirmed at least nine COVID-19 deaths at the centre.
The health authorities responsible for two of the other six CHSLDS had also confirmed higher death totals earlier this week. The Centre d’hébergement de Lasalle, for example, was confirmed to have 14 deaths, compared to the seven the government announced Thursday.
Asked about the discrepancy during his daily briefing on Friday, Legault looked at his notes and reiterated there have been only five deaths at the Centre d’hébergement Alfred-desrochers.
Quebec’s public health director, Horacio Arruda, then said there are always “some delays” between when someone dies and when the death is registered.
“So I’m suspecting that perhaps there are some people … who died yesterday but who are not, still, in the system,” he said. “But we must go with the official numbers.”
Asked why government officials and regional health authorities appear to be using different data sets, a spokesperson for Quebec’s health ministry referred the Montreal Gazette to Arruda’s response.
CHSLDS and seniors’ residences are at the heart of the pandemic in Quebec. Approximately half of the province’s COVID -19 deaths have occurred in CHSLDS and 22 per cent in private seniors’ residences.
Quebec initially believed the province’s hospitals would be the hardest hit during the crisis, but has found itself scrambling to send re sources to the long-term care centres that have suffered the most severe outbreaks.
The spokesperson for a union that represents thousands of orderlies said his workers are “going to the front without any protection.” He said there are at least 50 infected orderlies at an eldercare facility in Laval, the Centre d’hébergement Ste-dorothée, and another 50 at one in Shawinigan.
“In Ste-dorothée, we’re talking about a facility that has 150 residents and yet 50 workers have been infected? That’s unacceptable,” said Hubert Forcier, a spokesperson for the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux. “We’re seeing workers without protective masks. Two of our workers displayed COVID-19 symptoms, but were told to come in to work anyway because staff is overloaded.”
A nurse who works at St. Mary’s Hospital, but has been volunteering at the Lasalle CHSLD, told the Montreal Gazette the difference between the two work environments is staggering.
The 56-year-old nurse asked her name not be published for fears of professional repercussions. She went to volunteer at the centre after learning how bad it’s been hit.
“They’re treating Covid-positive patients, but they can’t take the proper precautions,” she said of the CHSLD.
The woman volunteered Thursday in a section reserved for people exhibiting symptoms but who are still waiting for their test results, feeding patients and taking their vital signs to help the short-handed staff.
At the hospital, she said, boxes of gloves and bins are kept outside each patient’s room, to make sure staff can change them as needed. But she never saw that at the centre. She believes staff were left with no choice, but to use the same pair as they went from one room to another.
Nurses and assistants working in the “hot zone” also wore surgical masks instead of the recommended N-95 masks, she said, and were equipped with lower-quality gowns.
“They’re absolutely overwhelmed,” she added. “It’s not fair for them to be working in an environment like that. And it’s not safe for the patients, either.”