Two more residents have died at an Almonte, Ont., long-term care home, currently experiencing a vicious novel coronavirus outbreak.
The death toll at Almonte Country Haven now stands at 18, with 36 additional residents infected with COVID-19.
Doris Parks, who Global News spoke to outside the home while she was delivering supplies for her 99-year-old mother Tuesday, called the situation “tragic.”
“My mom is 99 and I’d rather see her go from natural causes,” Parks said, welling up with tears.
Su Marchand also visited her mother on Tuesday, talking to her through the glass. Marchand said she’s had a hard time dealing with the rising death toll.
“I just want to wake up and this is done, that would make you feel great, right? But we’re not waking up to that. We’re waking up to more deaths,” Marchand said.
Nevertheless, she feels staff at the home have been doing their best to take care of residents, by remaining calm and deploying preventative measures for those who have yet to test positive for the virus.
In a previous release sent Monday, Almonte Country Haven said Leeds, Grenville and Lanark Public Health had committed to testing every resident in the home in order to determine whether they were infected.
Previously, health officials were only testing residents who had been in close contact with positive cases.
Before the outbreak hit, there were over 80 people living at the long-term care facility.
On Monday, chief public health officer Theresa Tam announced over half of all COVID-19-related deaths took place in long-term care facilities.
On Tuesday, Ontario premier Doug Ford pledged to deploy more staff to long-term care homes in the province and to require personal support workers to work only at one home at a time. There are currently more than 90 outbreaks in such facilities across the province.
Numbers have seemingly exploded in the Leeds, Grenbville and Lanark region, a rural region that consists of about 175,000 people. There were 176 total cases reported Monday, much higher than the 55 total cases reported in the adjacent Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington region, which serves a much larger population.
According to medical officer for health Leeds, Grenville and Lanark, Dr. Paula Stewart, the small rural region’s relatively high numbers are due to their “aggressive” testing in long-term care facilities.
Current numbers at Almonte Country Haven make up about a third of all cases in the region.
— With files from The Canadian Press.
Comments