There is a call by CARP, and other seniors’ advocates, for new measures to prevent a full blown second wave of COVID-19 infections from sweeping through Ontario’s nursing homes.
And for good reason.

The number of active cases of the new coronavirus among residents of the province’s long term care homes is growing at an average rate of about 8-percent a day.
As of October 20th, there were 216 active resident infections in the province’s nursing homes, up from 5 on September 1st.
At the same time, the number of homes with active outbreaks currently sits at 86, up from 13 on September 1st. And 60 residents have died after contracting COVID-19 since the beginning of September.
David Cravit is chief marketing officer at CARP – A New Vision of Aging. He told Zoomer Radio’s Fight Back with Libby Znaimer, the way to prevent a devastating second wave in nursing homes is to address the staffing shortage properly.
“I wish the minister would come out and say here is exactly how many positions we’re short, and yes, long term recruiting and better pay is going to solve part of it, but we have an immediate need. We need to get specific numbers of what’s the shortfall and how are they proposing to fill it in the immediate future when lives are at stake, and so far there’s been no detail about that,” Cravit explained. Listen to Libby’s entire conversation with David Cravit and the rest of the Zoomer Squad by clicking here.
Cravit says when Long Term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton announced at the end of September $400-million for recruiting nursing home staff, the direction for the funding was too vague.