Over a third of the regional cases have been found in long-term care homes, and 20 percent among health-care workers - a rate double that of last week after the region ordered extended testing at the sites, revealing a large amount of new cases.
While two outbreaks at Rapelje Lodge and Shalom Manor in Grimsby now appears to be over, new cases are still found among staff and residents at three care homes who have been battling outbreaks for several weeks.
He mentioned Royal Rose Place and Seaons Retirement Community in Welland as well as Lundy Manor in Niagara Falls as three homes where the situation is so concerning to the region that they have decided to station staff at the homes for a few hours every day.
"They will be monitoring the infection control and ensure staff are following the proper precedures," said acting medical officer of health, Dr. Mustafa Hirji.
He has been sounding the alarm for weeks that a lack of education among workers at the facilities on how to follow the guidelines on how to manage an outbreak could have led to the outbreaks being prolonged.
"We also have an enhanced team regularly following up and doing in-person education and really trying to correct everyones behaviour. The managers know the procedures but they are not always followed by staff," he said.
The explanation to the lack of adherance to the guidelines is not rooted in negligence, he said, but pointed out that as the situation progressed with more health-care workers falling ill, replacement staff with little experience has been brought in.
"For the most part it is not nursing staff, but unregistered health-care providers without the same level of training or knowledge. And since these jobs do not pay very well, and many might not be very well off, they sometimes live together, where the infection spreads," he continued.
In a April 20 statement from the chief operating officer at Seasons corporate office, the company said they continue to work with public health officials.
"We are working on plans to reintroduce “normalcy” to our operations, however; wide-spread testing of asymptomatic residents and staff is still not available to retirement homes, and we know that when people gather in groups there is an increased risk for transmission. This leads us to believe the risk to residents remains high," said Season CAO LeighAnne Voll.
While provincial officials stated on Monday that the peak of new cases was reached in Ontario, Mustafa Hirji said this is not a time to let up on social distancing measures.
"When we let up is when it will start to flare up again. We are still looking to test everyone who might have even mild symptoms like a cough or runny nose, to find every last case in Niagara and stop the transmission."
