Care home case numbers starting to come down

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This article was published 05/01/2021 (1892 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the first time in months, Manitobans got some encouraging news on the pandemic’s disproportionate and deadly toll on personal care homes.

Nearly half of the 688 Manitobans who have died of COVID-19 — 324, or about 47 per cent — were residents of long-term care homes. At least 1,805 cases of COVID-19 have been logged inside such facility walls.

However, the numbers are starting to come down, Shared Health chief nursing officer Lanette Siragusa said Monday, during public health officials’ first news conference of the new year.

Currently, 43 personal care homes in Manitoba are classified as having outbreaks, but 25 of those represented two or fewer cases. Sixteen of the outbreak sites had no active cases as of Monday, but staff and residents were still being monitored within the incubation period.

“There still is lots of work to do on this front. We are definitely not out of the woods yet,” Siragusa said.

“But I did want to thank everyone who’s been involved in stabilizing the personal care home situation, just through the cleaning and all the work that’s been done to minimize the spread of the virus, as well as all the health-care workers who have stepped up.”

The pandemic has required bringing in additional nurses and aides to work with residents who need a higher level of care, she noted.

“It’s looking like it’s working, so thank you so much,” Siragusa said, directing her comments at health-care workers.

Meanwhile, new outbreaks are being declared almost every day, and front-line workers are still feeling the effects of understaffing as they try to keep themselves and residents safe, advocates say.

Debbie Boissonneault, president of CUPE Local 204, which represents employees at 22 public-sector personal care homes in the province, said she has heard from workers who contracted COVID-19 on the job, and others who are scrambling to keep up with high workloads.

“They still feel overwhelmed with COVID. They’re still working with many patients and there’s always a fear of new patients becoming COVID-positive,” Boissonneault said.

As of Monday morning, there were 399 active cases within Manitoba personal care homes. Two of the five deaths announced Monday were linked to facility outbreaks.

Vaccines are set to start rolling-out to personal care homes next week, but how many and who will be first in line remains unclear.

A pilot project for personal care home staff who aren’t showing any symptoms of COVID-19 has so far tested 511 employees at three facilities, yielding just one confirmed positive result. One other positive result was deemed invalid.

Siragusa said a team is working on expanding asymptomatic testing at other personal care homes. With one week left in the pilot, 296 staff at Deer Lodge and one at Donwood Manor (both in Winnipeg), and 86 at Country Meadows (Neepawa) have been tested.

To fill urgent gaps in staffing, nearly 1,200 health-care workers who normally work elsewhere within the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority were redeployed to care homes over the past several weeks. It is being done under a “hub” model that allows staff to be transferred wherever they are most needed, according to information released Dec. 30 by the WRHA.

Currently, provincial public health orders prohibit workers from going back-and-forth between different personal care homes, but sometimes workers have to be redeployed to ensure the facilities remain staffed, Siragusa said.

Asked Monday what’s being done to reduce the risk of spreading the virus in this hub model, Siragusa said staff is expected to wear personal protective gear.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay