Over 90 long-term care homes in Ontario have an active COVID-19 outbreak
Ontario is reporting that 93 long-term care homes currently have an active COVID-19 outbreak as of Wednesday morning.
According to the province, an active outbreak indicates that the home has at least one lab-confirmed case of coronavirus, for a resident or staff, and the local public health unit or the home has declared an outbreak.
As the virus can spread quickly, especially in vulnerable populations, having just one case in a long-term care facility can be high-risk for residents.
Government of Ontario
Some facilities with the largest outbreaks include: Extendicare Guildwood in Scarborough which has 48 reported deaths; Fudger House in Toronto which has 48 cases; Ina Grafton Gage Home in Scarborough has 31 reported deaths; Kennedy Lodge in Scarborough has 35 cases with 27 deaths; Main Street Terrace in Toronto has 50 cases with seven deaths; Rockcliffe Care Community has 111 reported cases.
As Ontario is currently in the second wave of the pandemic, at the beginning of October Premier Doug Ford said visitors to long-term care homes will be restricted to staff and essential visitors only, which includes essential caregivers.
As part of Ontario’s 2020 budget, long-term care will have $7.5 billion in new funding.
The new funding will see an increase in daily direct care from a nurse or personal support worker (PSW) per long‑term care resident to four hours a day over a four-year period.
The province will also make available $4 billion in 2021–2022 and a further $2 billion in 2022–2023 in support to “protect people’s health and to support the fight against the COVID‑19 pandemic,” the budget document says.
Recently, Ontario’s numbers have skyrocketed with Wednesday’s record-breaking 1,426 cases. It broke Tuesday’s record of 1,388 cases.
There are a total of 88,209 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Ontario reported to date.
Of the 3,275 total deaths in the province, 2,041 have been residents of long-term care.
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