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ONTARIO HEALTH COALITION ASKING FOR MILITARY ASSISTANCE AT RAVAGED LONG-TERM CARE HOMES
Posted: January 3, 2021
(January 2, 2021)
By: Newstalk 1010 – iHeartRadio
A non-profit that represents health-care professionals and patients is calling for military intervention in Ontario’s long-term care homes to help control outbreaks of COVID-19.
The executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition says redeploying the Canadian Armed Forces to the hard-hit facilities is not the group’s first choice, but that there aren’t many short-term options.
Natalie Mehra says outbreaks in long-term care home have been “growing extremely quickly” and death counts are mounting.
She says that hospitals are treating a worrying number of patients, and some are experiencing outbreaks of their own.
As of Thursday — the most recently available data — the province was reporting 1,235 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 337 in ICU.
The same day, the province said there were 187 long-term care homes experiencing active outbreaks of COVID-19.
One of the hardest hit homes, Tendercare Living Centre in Scarborough, has seen 53 of its residents die from the virus outbreak.
Some family members of current residents are set to gather outside the home Saturday morning for a protest.
