A scathing report from the Ontario Health Coalition on the state of long-term care homes and the pandemic.
It examines the situation at the homes since the second wave of COVID-19 began.
Executive Director Natalie Mehra says the report shows over 700 people in facilities across the province have died since September 1. Close to 4,600 have been infected. Mehra calls it a crisis.
“When we say…the measures that have been taken to date are not working and they are not effective in stopping the spread of COVID-19 or saving people’s lives in long-term care homes. We’re not exaggerating,” says Mehra.
The health care watchdog calls on the Ford government to increase staffing levels at long-term care homes.
“They need to act on this today,” says Coalition member Amit Arya, “and use all their resources and all their power to get enough trained staff on-site, and that starts with legislating a minimum staffing standard with funding and a timeline.”
