Over one-third of Ontario's long-term care homes have active COVID-19 outbreaks
Over one-third of Ontario’s long-term care homes have an active COVID-19 outbreak.
On Monday, the provincial daily COVID-19 update showed that 233 long-term care homes out of the 626 in the province have an active outbreak.
The facilities still dominate the outbreaks occurring in congregate care, followed by group living and workplaces.
However, the cumulative number of cases since January 15, 2020, have been highest in the 20 to 29 age group with 40,199 cases and six total deaths.
The total number of people affected in the age grouping 70 and up is 24,031, with 4,081 reported deaths.
Government of Ontario
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Due to the high number of cases, Ontario is currently in the second wave of the pandemic and has been for some time.
The province initially implemented certain measures to help curb the spread to vulnerable populations by restricting visitors in long-term care homes to staff and essential visitors only, which includes essential caregivers.
There is now a province-wide lockdown as cases are increasing rapidly, with over 3,200 cases reported on Monday and Saturday’s record-breaking 3,363.
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.
Last week the province received 50,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, which will be given to long-term care homes first.
Daily Hive reached out to the Ministry of Long-Term Care for comment and will update accordingly.
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