The latest strain of COVID-19 has made its way into long-term care and retirement homes in the Simcoe-Muskoka region, prompting the health unit to turn a watchful eye on the severity of its impact this time.
There are 47 active COVID outbreaks in the region, and nearly all of them are in institutions and congregate living settings where vulnerable people live and receive care.
Seven of the outbreaks have resulted in ten or more cases in staff and residents at the institutions, but there have been no deaths reported and fewer than five hospitalizations so far.
Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health for the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit said he is concerned to see the virus spreading again in vulnerable settings.
“Earlier in the pandemic, we had a terrible time with outbreaks that resulted in a great deal of illness and death in our long-term care facilities and retirement homes,” said Gardner during a media briefing on Jan. 5. “I certainly wouldn’t want that to happen again.”
Though most people living in long-term care and retirement homes in the region have received three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, the protection offered by the vaccines against the omicron strain is less than it was for previous strains.
“The protection that we had from vaccination in the third wave and, certainly, in the fourth wave, we are not seeing that degree of protection now,” said Gardner. “It’s starting to impact, very much impact, our congregate settings, long-term care facilities and retirement homes. They are vulnerable again to transmission.”
There are 20 outbreaks in institutions in the region, which includes hospitals, long-term care homes and retirement homes. Of those, 15 are in Simcoe County.
There are four institutional outbreaks with ten or more cases in Simcoe County, including:
- The Barrieview Retirement Home, 20 resident cases, four staff cases, and two people are hospitalized
- IOOF Long-Term Care Home in Barrie, 20 cases including residents and staff, one person is hospitalized
- Bay Haven Care Community in Collingwood, 12 cases including residents and staff, zero hospitalized
- Trillium Manor in Orillia, 11 resident cases
The other institutional outbreaks, these with fewer than ten cases include:
- Creedon Valley Long-Term Care Home, Creemore
- Woods Park Long Term Care Home, Barrie
- Bradford Valley Care Community
- The Elden of Bradford
- Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre
- Waypoint Centre, Horizon Unit
- Kingsmere Retirement Home, Alliston
- Mill Creek Care Centre
- Leacock Care Centre, Orillia
- Bob Rumball Home for the Deaf, Barrie
There are 21 outbreaks at congregate settings in Simcoe County, which includes places like shelters and group homes. The names of these settings are not published. One of the outbreaks involves 11 cases and one involves 10 cases, the rest of the congregate setting outbreaks involve fewer than 10 cases.
The six remaining outbreaks in the region are at schools or childcare facilities.
According to Dr. Gardner, there is one outbreak that found to be the delta variant of COVID, but 10 outbreaks are presumed to be omicron based on initial testing. Whole-genome sequencing is still underway. Testing is still underway to determine which COVID strain is responsible for the remaining outbreaks.
“We’re seeing transmission, but ‘are we seeing severity?’ is a key question for me,” said Gardner. “We’ve got a high degree of vaccination in these settings with second and even third doses. I am hopeful that vaccination will blunt and reduce the severity and minimize severe disease and death.”
He said he’ll be monitoring the situation closely.
