Care home says COVID-19 deaths higher than province reported

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This article was published 22/12/2020 (1967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was another dark day in Manitoba with 18 lives reported lost to COVID-19.

While the province reported Tuesday that seven of those deaths were connected to an outbreak at Winnipeg’s Extendicare Oakview Place, the company that owns the personal care home said the death toll there is much higher.

“We are saddened to confirm that 12 residents who have previously tested positive for COVID-19 have passed away,” Laura Gallant, a spokeswoman for Extendicare said late Tuesday.

“We have been in touch with these residents’ families to offer our heartfelt condolences,” she said in an email to the Free Press.

Manitoba Health was able to report seven of the Oakview Place deaths on Tuesday, including a woman in her 80s, a man in his 80s, four women in their 90s and a man in his 90s.

Gallant said as of Tuesday there were 27 active resident cases at the Ness Avenue care home, with six active cases among staff who are isolating at home.

“We are focused on maintaining the health and safety of the residents and staff at Oakview Place and working to clear the virus from the home as quickly as possible,” said Gallant. “We are working closely with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and public health and are following all directives to help keep residents safe.”

Acting deputy chief provincial public health officer Dr. Jazz Atwal pleaded with Manitobans to stay within their households this holiday season to reduce infections, hospitalizations and the number of deaths.

“The numbers are still high,” he told reporters Tuesday, when just 155 new cases of COVID-19 were reported — the second consecutive day the case count fell below 200.

Of the 155 new cases announced Tuesday, 92 were in Winnipeg, 27 in Northern Health, 17 in Southern Health, 10 in Prairie Mountain, and nine in Interlake-Eastern.

“Our numbers are trending in the right direction,” said Atwal, who warned that could change quickly if people let their guard down.

There could be 400 new cases on Wednesday, spelling trouble for hospitals that are already taxed, with 382 COVID-19 patients including 44 in the ICU, Atwal said at a virtual news conference.

“We need to sustain lower numbers,” he said. “We’re halfway through a pandemic and people need to realize that. This is a pivotal point. We need people to stay apart.”

Oakview Place is focused on maintaining the health and safety of the residents and staff and working to clear the virus from the home as quickly as possible, said Gallant with Extendicare, which also operates Tuxedo Villa and River East care homes in Winnipeg, among nearly 120 across Canada.

“We will continue to do all we can to prevent further transmission in our home, including increased cleaning, especially of high-touch surfaces, and active, regular symptom screening of residents and staff, including temperature checks,” she said.

Physicians are on site daily and all staff providing care, anywhere in the home, adhere to full PPE requirements that are monitored closely, the spokeswoman said. Shared Health has been providing additional PPE, including both surgical and N95 masks, eye and face protection, and gloves, with Extendicare supplementing the supply when it’s needed, said Gallant.

The company has been pressing the province to conduct weekly asymptomatic testing of staff at long-term care homes throughout Manitoba, Gallant noted.

Protecting residents also requires the quick return of COVID-19 test results to give homes the information needed to properly respond and isolate those infected with the virus — residents and staff, she said. Routine testing of staff on a regular basis is required to identify sources of the virus and remove them from the home.

“We can’t fight the virus if we don’t know where it is or who might be carrying it,” Gallant said.

The province on Monday launched a pilot project to test health-care workers for COVID-19 at three personal care homes: Donwood Manor and Deer Lodge Centre in Winnipeg and Country Meadows in Neepawa. The pilot will run for four weeks. The asymptomatic surveillance testing uses rapid tests that provide results in 20 minutes.

— with file from Katie May

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca