MOH expects that will increase despite best efforts to stop the spread

The number of residents and staff in long term care homes in Lambton testing positive for COVID-19 is climbing rapidly. And the local medical officer of health expects the situation to get worse.

Of the nine outbreaks recorded by Lambton Public Healt, eight are in long term care and retirement homes. Public health no longer says exactly how many cases there in each home until five people test positive. But there are at least 65 people in Lambton’s homes who have tested positive for the virus.

In Ontario, the number of residents who are infected has climbed from 571 on Wednesday, to 870 on Thursday to 1,053 today. It’s estimated 30 per cent of staff in long term care across the province is ill or isolating.

In Lambton, at Trillium Villa Long Term Care Home in Sarnia, there are 14 residents and 10 staff ill; at Sumac Lodge, there are 12 residents ill and eight staff members; Fiddicks in Petrolia has seven staff COVID-19 positive and less than five residents ill and at Marshall Gowland Manor, there are eight staff members ill.

Jane Joris is the general manager of long term care for Lambton County, which runs Marshall Gowland Manor. She says all three of the county’s long term care homes have staff off ill or isolating because of the rapid spread of the Omicron variant although only Marshall Gowland Manor is in outbreak. Joris says the good news, so far, is there are “no residents with any symptoms or tested positive at the homes.”

That may be due to a higher level of screening going on at the county homes. Joris says every single person entering the home has a rapid antigen test every day. Staff members are able to head to their work area after the test, but must not have direct contact with other staff or residents until the result of the rapid test is given after 15 minutes. Essential care givers are also tested each visit, but they wait at the door for the results of their tests.

The province requires staff members only to be tested twice a week.

“We just decided we had test and we were going to be extra cautious,” says Joris.

The Ministry of Long Term Care is providing two weeks of rapid antigen tests at a time and Joris is hopeful the tests will continue arriving at a pace that they can keep testing staff daily.

Right now, residents’ two essential care givers are the only people visiting and when a home is in outbreak, only one of the two can come in at a time. “I can’t imagine how frustrating that is for families,” Joris says.

But she says, in Lambton, they’re working with the essential care givers to provide as much care as possible during this wave when human resources are stretched.

“We’ve asked our essential care givers to come in and help with meal time,” says Joris. “They get quarterly training and they have to use PPE, but if they can help at mealtime, that’s helpful.”

Lambton’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Sudit Ranade recently expressed concern about the rapid rise of COVID-19 cases in long term care again.

He’s “hopeful” the two or three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine they’ve received will provide some protection. But Ranade isn’t mincing words about how difficult this wave will be for the most vulnerable people in Lambton.

“Even the current things were trying to do, it will be challenging…I do expect them (the number of COVID-19 cases in long term care) to sort of take off and we’ll see lots and lots of cases,” says Ranade.

“Their vaccination status in the best protection we have.”

But he adds; “They are going to end up in the hospital, they are going to end up sick, they may end up not making it through this and I’m concerned about that.

“But I also believe once you’ve vaccinated them and done everything you can do when it comes to infection protection control measures, then you’ve done what you can do because it is really dependent upon that person’s body and their response to both the vaccine and the virus.”

For their part, Joris says the staff at the county’s long term care homes are doing everything they can. But, it is draining.

“They are tired and they have been remarkable working extra time, doing extra things, doing things they didn’t have to do before,” Joris says. “I can not eloquently say how much we appreciate all they are doing.”