As the battle against COVID-19 in Niagara Region continues, more deaths are reported inside the regions care homes for seniors.

On Saturday, Niagara Falls seniors home Lundy Manor reported that a total of ten residents have died since the outbreak, with 16 residents and four staff members testing positive.

Outbreaks at six locations, as well as the St Catharines hospital have been declared after residents and/or staff tested positive.

Three deaths were reported at the St Catharines hospital, but it was not immediately clear if any of them were related to the care home outbreaks.

The numbers are a part of the nightmare scenario that has kept health officials awake at night since the pandemic hit Niagara as some of the regions most vulerable residents are trapped in their facilities with a virus known to hit the elderly with serious symptoms in a larger extent than the rest of the population.

With 234 cases, of which 79 are reported as ‘resolved’, the regional medical officer of health, Dr. Mustafa Hirji says there is some evidence that the curve is flattening as a sharp decline in travel-related cases are being reported, while many newly discovered infections can be linked to the outbreaks.

“What is significant is that the new cases largely are among people we have already isolated,” he said.

While locations with confirmed outbreaks have done their best to reassure families and the public that forceful measures are in place, Mustafa Hirji says the quality of handling the new sanitization protocols among the care homes that they are in contact with.

“It is a bit of a mixed story. They are motivated, trying hard and listening to our advice, but i think even in the best of times there are some significant staffing challenges. Once you start having staff who are sick or have been exposed and should not be working, the pressure becomes even greater and that has been a significant challenge for them”

He mentions that there are indication that personal protective equipment is not being changed as frequently as it should to ensure nothing follows a worker from one patient to the next.

“It is not being followed in 100 percent of the cases.”

Is it because they are trying to conserve protective equipment?

“It is possible, but it could maybe also be the subtlety in the best practices that are unfamiliar. They have not had to to that before, and people are less familiar with the guidance where it says how you should act.”