Why is this outbreak not under control?

BY MICHAEL THOMAS

Why have staff and patients infected by COVID-19 outbreaks in health care settings almost doubled, and the death toll increased by 333.7% in two weeks? Why are the outbreaks not under control?

According to The Ontario Health Coalition, the government is dropping the ball and falling short of what needs to be done to flatten the curve and bring this disastrous disease to a crashing end as soon as possible.

By all accounts COVID-19 outbreaks in health and congregate care settings, including: hospitals, long-term care, retirement homes, public health units, and clinics are rising drastically, reported the Ontario Health Coalition as it released its most recent data tracking 7,894 staff, patients and residents infected.

This report shows that the numbers of those infected in health care settings are going up at an alarming rate and the document is now 133 pages long. It tracks the outbreaks in each health and congregate care facility week by week and has since the beginning of the pandemic.

The summaries are contained in three charts and show the deadly march of the virus. There are significant numbers and sizes of outbreaks in: public hospitals, private hospitals, mental health facilities, long-term care homes, retirement homes and congregate care homes

When looking at the numbers, it shows a 156% increase in the number of patients and residents infected in hospitals, long-term care, retirement homes and congregate care. Also, the number of staff in health care infected in the last month has gone up by almost 3,000 people, which is a 67% increase. “The organization found that more staff than patients are now infected in public hospital outbreaks,” (Natalie Mehra, Executive Director, Ontario Health Coalition) said, “The outbreaks are not under control,”

Mehra describes the PPE that staffs are able to access as inadequate. “It says that the testing, contact tracing, and isolation needs to be ramped up and workers need to be supported to quarantine when they test positive. It says that we need leadership and competence from our government. That leaving it to the health care provider corporations for-profit and non-profit to take care of this themselves is not working.”

Her organization is asking the government to come up with a reasonable plan including solid measures to improve supplies, capacity and infection control, leadership, and coordination to stop the wave of infections that is, “Sweeping through the facilities.”

Ontario Health Coalition is calling on the government to implement the following five criteria.

• Better infection control including better access to PPE- Meaning things like a surgical mask should never be reused patient after patient
• Ramp up testing using our province’s full public capacity – Public hospital laboratories that are not currently doing testing and have unused capacity should be ramping up testing
• Understaffing in long-term care is critical and must be addressed – The provincial government cannot rely on long-term care homes in crisis to get themselves out of the crisis. There must be a coherent plan, led by our government, to step in with a set of coordinated, concrete measures to get staff into the homes that have lost staffing levels due to sickness
• Transfers to hospitals – Where there are long-term care homes in crisis (without sufficient staff to provide proper palliative care and proper care for those who are not palliative) residents should be transferred to public hospitals which are not in crisis for safe and proper care
• Bring in family caregivers and retired nurses as soon as possible – As soon as testing/contract tracing capacity and PPE supply are stabilized enough to do so, and as soon as training in infection control can be properly done, primary family caregivers need to be able to be involved as partners in their families’ care. The pool of nurses that the RNAO has recruited to help should be utilized if they have not already been

The Ontario Health Coalition said it is deeply sorry to report that as of May 5^th, 2020 they have found a total of 1,878 patients and residents deceased in outbreaks in health and congregate care settings, up from 433 deceased as of April 21^st.

The report COVID-19 UPDATE: Tracking of COVID-19 Outbreaks in Health Care Settings can be found here: https://www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca/index.php/update-hospital-and-long-term-care-health-care-workers-long-term-care-residents-infected-with-covid-19-5/