OTTAWA – Ottawa’s senior care facilities have been hit hard by COVID-19 in recent days

Carlingview Manor Long Term Care and Madonna Care Community seniors’ residence are the latest of what are now a dozen Ottawa institutions to declare COVID-19 outbreaks.

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) announced 26 new cases of the virus across the city on Wednesday (April 8), with one new death, bringing the city’s overall total to 429 and seven deaths. Of the confirmed cases to date, 130 have been resolved, while 35 patients remain in hospital – 13 in intensive care.  That’s one less person in hospital than was reported on Tuesday.

The outbreaks at Carlingview and Madonna Care are considered facility-wide.

They join a list of other institutions to see one or more cases of COVID-19, including:

• The Ottawa Hospital’s General Campus (5 West and BMT units)
• The Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus (A Five, B Five, and AMA units)
• Montfort Hospital (3C)
• Montfort Hospital (Ancillary staff)
• The Ottawa Carleton Association for Persons with Developmental Disabilities – Settlers Ridge (facility wide)
• Maplewood Retiremenet Community (facility wide)
• Garden Terrace (facility wide)
• Promenade Retirement Residence (facility wide)
• Park Place (facility wide)
• Manoir Marochel (facility wide)

Ontario is reporting 26 new deaths from COVID-19, bringing to 200 the total number of people killed by the virus.

There have been 483 new confirmed cases since Wednesday, with a provincial total of 5,759 — an increase of 9.2 per cent.

More than 2,300 cases have been resolved, which is 40 per cent of Ontario’s total COVID-19 confirmed cases.

There are now 632 people in hospital confirmed to have COVID-19, with 264 of them in intensive care and 214 of those people on ventilators.

Nearly 4,100 tests were completed in the 24 hours up to 4 p.m. Wednesday, not long after Premier Doug Ford railed against the relatively low number of tests being performed in Ontario.

There is lab capability to do 13,000 tests per day, but the testing backlog grew for a third day in a row, by about 100 to just over 1,200.

Ontario’s chief medical officer of health says in a new memo that all health-care workers and first responders should be tested for COVID-19 as soon as they develop any symptoms, even atypical ones.

Dr. David Williams also says that anyone newly admitted to a long-term care home should be tested, as well as residents — even asymptomatic ones — who have had contact with a confirmed case.

The expanded guidance stops short of a call Ford issued Wednesday for every long-term care resident, front-line health-care worker and first responder to be tested.

Williams’ memo says testing of asymptomatic patients, residents or staff is generally not recommended.

Williams has also issued a new directive to long-term care homes requiring all staff and essential visitors to wear masks while they are in those facilities, whether there is an active outbreak or not.