More than 260 Ontario long-term care residents died after getting COVID-19 in last four months

Respiratory virus outbreaks in Ontario’s long-term care homes remains dominated by COVID-19, with nearly 16,000 cases of the virus reported in the last four months.

Respiratory virus outbreaks in Ontario’s long-term care homes remains dominated by COVID-19, with nearly 16,000 cases of the virus reported in the last four months.

According to a newly released report by Public Health Ontario, there have been 850 confirmed outbreaks in long-term care homes since Aug. 27, 2023.

This is compared to 32 influenza outbreaks and 32 Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) outbreaks.

A facility has an outbreak when there are two or more test-confirmed cases with an epidemiological link.

During this time period there were 15,958 reported cases among residents and staff, including 373 hospitalizations. Two hundred and sixty-three residents died after contracting the disease.

Six deaths occurred in residents who had been diagnosed with influenza and four were related to RSV.

The numbers were slightly lower in retirement homes, with 720 reported COVID-19 outbreaks and just over 10,000 cases among residents and staff. Fifty-five deaths were reported since late August.