COVID-19 Update for April 15, 2020 – 2:45pm
Increased Focus on Long-Term Care Homes
Premier Doug Ford this afternoon addressed ongoing concerns about long-term care homes, vowing that his government is, “Throwing everything we’ve got to our long-term care homes.” The enhanced action plan, first announced at yesterday’s news conference, was released this afternoon. You can read the entire enhanced action plan here.
New Emergency Order will restrict caregivers to working in one home at a time
Ford signed off on an emergency order Tuesday banning long-term care staff from working in multiple facilities at a time, a move that has already been made in other parts of the country. Under the new order, long-term care workers who must temporarily give up a job in another care setting are protected from losing their job and will be entitled to an unpaid leave of absence. Additionally, all symptomatic staff and patients as well as asymptomatic contacts of confirmed COVID-19 patients will now be required to get tested.
Premier Ford is also working to redeploy hospital-based teams to provide support for long-term care homes, as hospitals haven’t been hit with the anticipated influx of COVID-19 patients.
Government working on resolving staffing challenges at Long-Term Care Homes
The government is also working on increasing staffing requirements at long-term care homes – which have been hit particularly hard by COVID-19. Of the 626 homes across the province, at least 114 are experiencing outbreaks (including the Long-Term Care facility where Ford’s mother-in-law lives), and three of the homes have reported more than 20 deaths each. To help better manage the outbreak, more than 190 long-term care homes have submitted requests for extra staff through the Ontario job matching portal.
We hope you are finding these COVID-19 updates useful. In addition to trying to keep on top of the fast-changing situation, Enterprise is also working to support local charities during these challenging times. If you are able, your contributions to this effort would be deeply appreciated.
To donate, please click on the link.
- Toronto – https://www.foodbankscanada.ca/
- Hamilton/Niagara – https://www.hamiltonfoodshare.org
- Alberta – https://hopemission.com/
Many thanks.
Stay safe. Stay healthy.
The Enterprise Team