Expert says lack of reporting on RSV cases in long-term care homes a concern
Advocates say respiratory illnesses are taking a toll on long-term care facilities, prompting calls for Canadians to exercise caution this holiday season while attending gatherings with senior citizens.
Canada's national seniors' advocacy organization, CanAge, said with the holidays approaching, people need to weary as cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are on the rise.
“Right now older adults and their family members are really trying to figure out what the holidays are going to look like,” said Laura Tamblyn Watts, CEO of CanAge. “With COVID-19 and influenza – particularly influenza A on the rise we now have RSV which has shown up as well and is really making things difficult. So people are trying to understand what they can do to keep safe, and what they can do to keep their loved ones safe as well.”
The prompt for increased precautions comes as long-term care homes in the province have started reporting outbreaks of RSV.
According to Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (WDG) public health, a number of long term care homes have recently seen outbreaks of RSV.
Currently, two outbreaks are happening at the Village Of Riverside Glen in two separate units, while another RSV outbreak originally declared on November 26th has now ended at St. Joseph Health Centre.
“RSV is very contagious. It’s another respiratory virus, it’s the same as flu and COVID in terms of how it spreads person to person and so we are seeing that and the way to prevent it is to obviously not visit elderly people when you’re sick and to wear a mask,” said Dr. Nicola Mercer, the WDG public health’s top doctor.
Mercer said while there are a number of outbreaks, the severity of cases do not warrant any additional safety measures in long-term care homes. She added restrictive measures could impact the mental well being of seniors.
CANAGE WANTS ACTION
“In Guelph, in Kitchener-Waterloo area we are seeing a significant rise of RSV in long-term care homes. So not just COVID and influenza which they are tracking better, we are starting to get some better numbers with RSV. But those better numbers in terms of our data are bad news for everybody else because we can see a tripling of RSV even in the last couple of weeks,” said Tamblyn Watts.
Tamblyn Watts said the data right now is poor.
“In many cases if you look up the long term care home in your region it may say that there is an outbreak of COVID or influenza, but is unlikely to say if there is RSV unless there’s been a number of confirmed cases.”
Tamblyn Watts said often long-term care homes will list an outbreak as ‘unknown’ or ‘respiratory illness’ but it is not actually being tested.
“We need to make sure that the Ontario government is really testing and doing their good work in homes to make sure we have excellent numbers for RSV because right now all that we know is that it’s getting worse every day but we don’t know by how much,” said Tamblyn Watts.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Israel gave U.S. last-minute warning about drone attack on Iran, Italian foreign minister says at G7
The United States told the Group of Seven foreign ministers on Friday that it received 'last minute' information from Israel about a drone action in Iran, but didn't participate in the apparent attack, officials said.
After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
'It was all my savings': Ontario woman loses $15K to fake Walmart job scam
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
Families to receive Canada Child Benefit payment on Friday
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
After COVID, WHO defines disease spread 'through air'
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
DEVELOPING G7 warns of new sanctions against Iran as world reacts to apparent Israeli drone attack
Group of Seven foreign ministers warned of new sanctions against Iran on Friday for its drone and missile attack on Israel, and urged both sides to avoid an escalation of the conflict.
BREAKING Iran fires at apparent Israeli attack drones near Isfahan air base and nuclear site
An apparent Israeli drone attack on Iran saw troops fire air defences at a major air base and a nuclear site early Friday morning near the central city of Isfahan, an assault coming in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.
Ottawa to force banks to call carbon rebate a carbon rebate in direct deposits
Canadian banks that refuse to identify the carbon rebate by name when doing direct deposits are forcing the government to change the law to make them do it, says Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.