Covid-19 raided Canada’s nursing homes. Now die die.

Data released this week from Ontario, the most populous province in Canada, indicates that the relative risk of death from Covid-19 among nursing homes has dropped by 96%. Analyzes from other regions of the country indicate a similar trend. At Ontario facilities, the relative risk of Covid-19 infection decreased 89% among residents and 79% among health care workers.

The findings are based on data from February 23, when 92% of nursing home residents received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, compared to 55% among nursing home staff. The authors measured how much the treatment reduced the risk of poor outcomes compared to a group of unvaccinated adults aged 70 years or older living in their own community homes.

“This is the first good news for this sector of the population,” said Dr. Nathan Stall, a geriatrician and scientific assistant to Ontario’s advisory panel Covid-19, said. The report compiled the report with data showing the sharp decline in the death toll.

Dr Samir Sinha, head of geriatrics at the University Health Network Group of Hospitals in Toronto and co-chair of Ryerson University’s Aging Institute, said the number of Covid-19 outbreaks at the 5800 nursing homes in the country has risen by 70% since early January has dropped. . This coincides with the decrease over the past two months in the average of seven days of confirmed Covid-19 cases, from more than 9,000 to less than 3,000, and related hospitalizations, from more than 4,000 to 1,600.

Dr Sinha said the majority of Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and related deaths nationwide now involve individuals aged 65 and older who still live at home. “That’s why the race is going to get as many of us vaccinated as possible,” he said. Provinces, such as Ontario, are now focusing on the population section in the second phase of their vaccination.

Canada’s nursing homes were hit hard during the early months of the pandemic than in any other major economy, with about 80% of the deaths from viruses in Canada associated with such facilities. In comparison, nursing homes accounted for less than 40% of Covid-19 deaths in the United States. For the total nursing homes so far, two-thirds of deaths in Canada occur in Covid-19, but only 9% of cases, according to information provided by the National Institute on Aging, part of Ryerson University in Toronto.

When the pandemic took place, many of the long-term care facilities in the country – a mix of publicly owned homes and profitable businesses – were understaffed, poorly equipped and outdated. Canadian armies and soldiers were sent to help local officials control outbreaks in these homes.

‘Long-term care homes have been at the center of the virus in [Ontario] for the better part of the pandemic. “And the vaccines have now almost completely extinguished the fire,” said Dr Stall. He described the findings of the study as ‘spectacular’, adding that the results were the decision of authorities in Canada to initially care for residents and staff of the nursing home and the vaccination. The US and the UK, both of which are still far ahead of Canada’s population, also recommend that nursing homes be a priority.

John Yip, chief executive officer of Kensington Health, a nonprofit business in Toronto that operates a nursing home for 350 residents, has seen a dozen residents die from Covid-19 in the past year. He said the mood among staff and residents picked up with the vaccination. To date, more than 95% of Kensington residents have received two doses, and the nursing home has been free of Covid-19 for about a month.

Mr. Yip said the husband of a dementia-suffering resident wrote to him this week to tell them ‘things are going better’ and told how the couple during a visit had a dance, while masked, to an Elvis Presley song shared. Other, he said, sports smiles for the first time in a while.

“I think we are almost there,” Mr Yip said of returning to a semblance of normality. The move in Canada comes as federal authorities in the US lifted restrictions on visits to nursing homes this week amid widespread vaccinations.

Pandemic rules in Canada for nursing homes vary by region, although they remain mostly strict: visitors are usually limited, with the focus on family members considered essential caregivers.

British Columbia’s Center for Disease Control said last month that a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine reduced the risk of transmission among long-term caregivers and health workers by 80% within two to three weeks of vaccination. Data from Quebec, with most cases of Covid-19 and deaths linked to nursing homes, indicate that the vaccine’s efficacy to contain transmission among long-term caregivers reached 80% four weeks after vaccination.

Canada’s vaccination rate, or doses administered on an adjusted basis, has risen sharply to 7% over the past two weeks, although it lags behind and lags behind almost all major European economies in the UK and US. On Thursday, the seven-day average in doses administered, Pfizer rose 56% over two weeks Inc.

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Write to Paul Vieira by [email protected]