Talk it over :
MONTREAL – The CHSLDs are not spared by the Omicron wave that hits Quebec, while the situation continues to deteriorate there.
In three days, between January 6 and 9, the number of deaths in CHSLDs attributable to the current wave went from 61 to at least 74. The figure of 74 is a minimum, the January 9 table provided by the ministry of Health being incomplete.
At the same time, there are now 30 CHSLDs in the red zone, i.e. at least 25% of their residents are infected with the virus, five more than three days ago and 32 are now in the orange zone. , 10 more than January 6. The orange zone designates institutions where the number of active cases is between 15% and 24% of the total number of residents.
The Omicron variant has also been invited to more than 180 other CHSLDs which have active cases, but whose infection rate is less than 15%.
An infection rate of 133%
Among those who are in the red zone, the Transitional Functional Recovery Unit (UTRF) of the CHSLD Georges-Hébert in Saguenay has an infection rate of 133%, that is to say that it accommodates 12 residents all infected. while its capacity is nine beds. A UTRF provides rehabilitation services to elderly people who have been hospitalized and need to regain their strength in order to return home. Unit 2 of the Georges-Hébert CHSLD has an infection rate of 47%.
Infection rates are worrying in several of these institutions. The UTRF of the Center multi vocation de Lanaudière (unit 34) shows a rate of 94% with 16 infected patients out of 17. Also in Lanaudière, the CHSLD des Moulins in Terrebonne shows a rate of 61% on the 1st floor and 58% on the 3rd floor.
The ministry’s list shows two other institutions with infection rates exceeding 50%, namely the CHSLD Soulanges, in Montérégie, and the CHSLD Résidence Au coeur de la vie, in Saint-Jérôme, in the Laurentians, which have both a rate of 53%.
Resumption of transfers
Quebec recently tightened the rules for admission to CHSLDs, with visits being limited to one caregiver per day.
However, some hospitals have started to transfer patients to CHSLDs once more, a practice vigorously denounced by the Parti Québécois on Sunday, recalling that these transfers had largely contributed to the massacre during the first wave.
Transferred patients are however subjected to a PCR test before being transferred, in order to prevent them from becoming vectors of infection in CHSLDs. Quebec also recalls that residents of CHSLDs are now triply vaccinated.
Pierre Saint-Arnaud, The Canadian Press