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Canada is sending hundreds more troops to long-term care centers in Quebec and Ontario as coronavirus outbreaks contribute to a growing crisis in seniors’ homes.
Despite efforts to shore up staffing and improve conditions, there are still hundreds of outbreaks at seniors’ centers across Canada with dozens of deaths reported daily.
Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said more than 1,600 soldiers would be deployed by next week, the majority to centers in the Montreal area.
‘We’re all in and going as quickly as we can,” Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said today during a press conference from Ottawa.
“This is not a typical Canadian Armed Forces operation,” Sajjan added, echoing the words of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who last month said soldiers should not be taking care of seniors.
But Trudeau added that for now, Canada has no choice but to do just that as the crisis in seniors’ homes continues. Nearly four in every five Canadians who have died of Covid-19 have been residents of long-term care facilities.
Canadian military commanders say they have ‘stripped’ armed forces bases across the country of military medical personnel. They will be supported by other military staffers for logistics and operations requirements.
As of Thursday, Canada has reported about 65,000 cases of the virus and more than 4,500 deaths.
Canada’s top public health official warned this week that deaths would continue to rise even though the epidemic has been slowing in Canada with only hundreds of new cases per day outside of long term care homes.
“We know that the doubling time is now probably around 20 days so the epidemic itself is decelerating. But unfortunately and tragically what’s happening right now is that those who have been infected are coming to the end of their clinical outcome. With so many long term care facilities affected I think that the number of deaths will continue to increase,” said Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Officer.
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