All long-term-care residents to be tested,
Move follows weeks of delay blamed for a fast-rising death toll Health officials want to make testing for COVID-19 a priority in long-term-care facilities.
After weeks of delay blamed for a fast-rising death toll, Ontario is now planning to test every resident in the province’s 626 nursing homes for COVID-19, along with more staff. Premier Doug Ford confirmed the measure Wednesday but acknowledged the province’s limited capacity means the effort “might take a few weeks.”
Experts have long urged the government to step up testing in the close confines of nursing homes, where the virus can spread quietly and quickly.
Figures from the Ministry of Long-Term Care show at least 447 nursing home residents had died as of Tuesday afternoon — the latest figures available — including an increase of 48 in the previous 24 hours. Just under 2,000 nursing home residents and 957 staff have been infected to date, with one personal support worker dead.
Across the province, another 701 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 were reported by regional public health units as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, bringing the total to 13,718, according to a Star tally. There were another 61 deaths, raising that tally to 760.
Canada has recorded 38,422 COVID-19 cases and 1,834 deaths, about half of them in nursing homes. The hardest hit facilities have had dozens of deaths and infected workers, resulting in staff shortages.
As the situation worsened, Ontario moved last week to shore up testing, swabbing all residents in 21 homes to get a better picture of the spread. The government also mandated tests for every resident with COVID-19 symptoms, their roommates, residents in adjacent rooms and staff on the unit, along with essential visitors and others as necessary.
But with the picture declining to the point where Ford requested help from the Canadian Armed Forces for five nursing homes in severe crisis, that level of testing quickly proved inadequate.
A directive from Ontario chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams ordered public health units to develop plans to “immediately begin proactive surveillance testing to understand the current status of COVID-19” in every nursing home, including residents and staff not showing any symptoms.
No firm timelines for the testing were released. With labs in the province currently testing about 10,000 samples a day, and aiming for 14,000 daily by the end of the month, it would take about two weeks to test all 77,000 residents and 56,000 workers — a prospect that is highly unlikely given that there are other priorities for testing in hospitals, other health care workers and in the community.