While North America enters an unprecedented phase of response to the global coronavirus outbreak, local seniors’ residences are taking varying steps to protect against the spread of COVID-19.
Lookout Ridge Retirement Community, on Highway 20 in Fonthill, is not in “lockdown,” General Manager Chandra Hardeen stressed, but said the facility began barring all visitors on Saturday.
“The decision to prohibit visitors is not a step that we have taken lightly, as we know how important it is for residents to visit with their loved ones,” Hardeen said in a statement.
“However, our immediate priority and responsibility is to minimize the risk of infection and keep our residents and staff safe. We are monitoring the situation very closely and are prepared to change our response and protocols as the situation evolves."
Residents are free to come and go from the building.
Sunset of Woodlands, on Pelham Street, is also closed to visitors.
Shorthills Villa on Pelham Street isn’t barring visitors, but says it has enacted a “screening process” for them.
“We are screening everyone coming in with a short questionnaire,” employee Lisa Horvath said. The questionnaire asks potential visitors about their recent health and travel history. If the answers are not to staff’s liking, or if the visitor displays any cold symptoms, they won’t be allowed in.
Potential visitors at all facilities are advised to call ahead to all facilities given the fluid situation.
Seniors and those with compromised immune systems are at an elevated risk from COVID-19. While the global mortality rate for the virus was at 3.7 percent as of Saturday, it rises to approximately six percent of those infected over age 60.
In a fairly drastic move Saturday, Quebec Premier Francois Legault urged those over 70 in the province to not leave their homes.
“For younger people, the risks are very low. I would like to reassure young people, even if you are infected, the risks are quite low,” Legault said at a press conference. “But as a society, we should do everyone we can to protect older people.”
Canada’s only death attributed to the outbreak as of Saturday was an 80-year-old male resident of a seniors’ home in North Vancouver, B.C., that has seen three other residents or employees fall ill.
Further to that, the Niagara chapter of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) said Saturday that they are cancelling meetings and events until further notice.
“It is in the best interest of our membership that we cancel upcoming general membership events and meetings until such time as we can be sure that our members, who are at a greater risk for experiencing severe effects from the coronavirus, are not placed at an elevated risk by attending large public gatherings,” CARP Niagara education coordinator Helen Ringall said. “It seems incumbent on us to be part of the vigilance needed for older adults in the face of the pandemic.”
Niagara had two confirmed cases of the coronavirus as of Sunday—an 84-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman. According to Niagara Region Public Health and Emergency Services, the man had a family member recently return from Portugal, while the woman has a recent travel history to Egypt.
Niagara Health also announced over the weekend that visitor restrictions and screening will be in place at all the Region’s hospitals beginning this week. Policies include limiting visitors to one at a time in inpatient units, and only allowing one other person to accompany a patient to a clinic.
