OTTAWA — Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says deaths in long-term care facilities will likely continue to rise, even as the growth of overall COVID-19 cases begin to slow.
The spread of the virus in care homes has been at the root of half of the more than 700 deaths across the country.
While provinces and territories are ultimately responsible for their own public health response to the pandemic, the federal government has released guidelines to try to stall that spread in those vulnerable facilities.
The non-mandatory guidelines include suggestions that the homes limit visitors, screen workers at the beginning of each shift and screen residents daily.
Many provinces have already implemented similar measures.
Minister of Seniors Deb Schulte says long-term care homes are at greater risk because of the communal living space, exposure to visitors, patients transferred from other health facilities and shared health-care providers.