Two more residents of long-term care homes in Waterloo Region have suffered COVID-19-related deaths, according to Waterloo Public Health.
The deaths include a third at Forest Heights Long Term Care in Kitchener and a resident of the Village at University Gates in Waterloo.
Schlegel Village, which runs the home in Waterloo, noted on its website that a resident had died on Tuesday.
“We are deeply saddened, however, to report the resident from the Village at University Gates in Waterloo who was positive for COVID-19 passed away,” the company stated.
There have now been 17 COVID-19-related deaths in Waterloo Region with nine of those being related to long-term care or retirement homes.
There were only five new cases reported by Waterloo Public Health during its Wednesday morning update which is based upon numbers recorded at 7 p.m. the night before.
This brings the total number of cases in the area to 383, with 79 of those involving residents of long-term care homes in the area.
Forest Heights Long Term Care, which is operated by Revera Inc., is home to a majority of those as 54 residents have caught the virus. Another 34 staff members at the large Kitchener long-term care home have also tested positive for COVID-19.
Revera Inc. CEO Thomas Wellner has issued a letter to residents and family members which says the company has been taking steps to combat the spread of the disease.
“Our strategic sourcing team is truly scouring the earth for personal protective equipment so we can keep our employees and our loved ones safe,” he wrote. “We have purchased and are deploying Clorox 360 deep cleaning machines across our network. Because our outbreak protocols require additional people at all our sites, we are aggressively recruiting new staff. And we have implemented physical distancing across all aspects of our operations.”
The number of cleared cases in Waterloo region has now risen to 135. This total includes both those who have tested negative for the virus and those who have died.