Bookmark Please log in to listen to this story. Also available in French and Mandarin. Log In Create Free Account
Getting audio file . This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy. Full Disclaimer
The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be deadlier for Canadians living in long-term care and retirement homes, particularly in provinces that failed to prepare for a resurgence of the coronavirus.
A new report by the National Institute on Ageing says 7,470 people in seniors’ homes succumbed to the coronavirus over the past six months. During the first wave, by comparison, 7,022 residents died.
CARLOS OSORIO/Reuters
A devastating outbreak linked to the British variant of COVID-19 at a long-term care home north of Toronto has now infected just more than 300 individuals, heightening fears of community spread.
Ninety “household members” – a broad group that includes family of people who live or work at Roberta Place in Barrie, Ont., as well as staff from local hospitals, paramedic services and other community agencies helping manage the outbreak –
have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, said Charles Gardner, Medical Officer of Health at the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, in an interview on Wednesday.
All but one of the home’s 128 residents have been sickened with the virus, along with 86 staff members.
These vulnerable residents have a need for social connection and physical touch, leading them to enter other patients’ rooms or common areas where they could contract or transmit the coronavirus, say doctors and advocates