MONTREAL -- A nurse at a Laval long-term care facility where more than 100 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 described conditions as “scary” amid staffing shortages and dying residents.

“A lot of people died in our unit. About 85 per cent of the patients are COVID positive. We have a few that are still negative,” Sylvie Morin told CTV News. “It spreads very fast, I've never seen that before in my career. People die very quickly.”

Morin works in the rehab section of the facility, but said “we're not doing rehab these days. We're just hanging in there the best we can.”

While help is coming via staff sent by CLSCs and hospitals, Morin said it's not enough. At least eight residents have died of COVID-19 in a facility that is home to 174 residents.

“It's very scary. Every morning I go to work, I'm scared. I'm scared of getting sick. At least three quarters of the regular staff is sick right now. We were short of staff pre-pandemic and now it's like none of the regular staff is there, almost.”