MONTREAL -- While cases of COVID-19 infection are fewer than in the spring in retirement homes in Quebec, there are still five long-term care homes (CHSLDs) and private seniors' residences (RPAs) that are currently in a "critical situation" and on the government's red list.
An establishment winds up on the list when more than 25 per cent of its residents are infected with the novel coronavirus.
The first CHSLD (long-term care home) to appear on the red list is the CHSLD de Lambton, in Estrie, with a contamination rate of nearly 35 per cent: 19 residents and 17 employees are infected, and there have been four deaths due to the disease among the elderly.
The CIUSSS de l'Estrie confirmed the data.
As for the other retirement homes, four are struggling with outbreaks affecting more than 40 per cent of their residents (See chart below).
These four establishments are in regions that were the first to switch to the "orange" alert code, namely Chaudiere-Appalaches and the Quebec City region (Capitale-Nationale).
In Chaudiere-Appalaches, the CISSS reports that a shocking 233 per cent of the residents are contaminated at the Pavillon Jacques Lachance (Residence Le Crystal) in Thetford-Mines, and 89 per cent of those of the Residence Jeanne D'Arc Fillion located in Saint-Nazaire-de Dorchester have contracted COVID-19.
At the time of writing, the CISSS had not yet explained the surprising 233 per cent figure.
The other two red zone elderly facilities are the Residence Le Marquisat des Plaines Quebec (46.2 per cent infection rate) and the Residence La Belle Epoque Quebec (40.3 per cent infection rate).
-- this report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2020.
