Friday April 24, 2020 ~ BC
by Mary Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
Today with four more COVID-19 deaths announced in BC, the total number of people who have died from the coronavirus infection has reached 98.
While is this significantly lower than the sad death tallies in other provinces and is certainly well-contained compared to the impact of widespread outbreaks in the United States, that is nevertheless 98 families who are impacted by the sudden loss of a loved one in this unexpected way.
Most of the COVID-19 deaths in BC have resulted among seniors living in long-term care or assisted living facilities. This is being seen as associated with lack of physical distancing, and the cross-contamination between care homes due to care workers often working at more than one facility.
Underlying that scenario is in many cases the financial aspect of care homes where the highest possible number of residents and lowest-possible wages and benefits (achieved by part-time contracts) is the mixture of organizational business decisions that have turned out to produce a lethal mix during an infectious pandemic.
Number of test-positive cases in BC:
Overall in BC today April 24 there have been 1,853 test-positive cases of COVID-19 since testing began this year. Today 29 new cases were added to that tally, it was stated in a release from Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry.
Every health region in British Columbia has patients with COVID-19: 767 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 772 are in Fraser Health, 114 in the Island Health region, 158 in the Interior Health region, and 42 in Northern Health.
Thirty long-term care homes impacted by COVID-19:
“There have been no new outbreaks in long-term care, assisted living or acute care in the last day. In total, 20 facilities and three acute-care units have active outbreaks, with outbreaks declared over at 10 care facilities.
That’s 30 facilities dealing with the impact of COVID-19 which shines a harsh light on the conditions of care and policy of care delivery in long-term care homes and assisted living facilities where seniors are placed by families who may feel they cannot undertake that care themselves at home.
As Dr Henry has stated in media briefings, seniors in long-term care who have become infected with COVID-19 are offered the option to be relocated to hospital. But apparently due to various end-of-life orders (perhaps already in place) or the desire of a person to not die while undergoing mechanical intervention (such as the ventilator equipment that is required to provide enough oxygen at the latter stages of serious COVID-19 infection), the relocation to hospital is declined.
Petition seeking improvements for seniors in long-term care:
Today a petition to seek improvements in long-term care for seniors across Canada was launched by the federal NDP.
“We need national standards for long-term care to put people before profit.
The COVID-19 crisis has shown how desperately we need to improve long-term care in Canada — and we need to act now,” is the lead sentence on the petition.
The petition documentation continues: “Our parents and grandparents built this country and as they age, they deserve to live in comfort and safety. It’s time the federal government works with the provinces and territories to guarantee families that their loved ones will be looked after and protected.”
The urgent need to address long-term care facility policy and management would come in part through an immediate funding increase as well as the introduction of clear and enforceable national standards for the operation and staffing of long-term care homes.
In BC, Health Minister Adrian Dix acted quickly to ensure that long-term care home workers work in only one facility. That assure comes with a $10 million price tag, but it was put in place immediately. Dix said this week that most arrangements have now been sorted out to ensure no cross-over of staff between facilities.
===== LINKS:
COVID-19 ushers in changes for seniors, business, education, environment and health (by Mary Brooke, April 23, 2020)