Ontario now has 93 nursing homes with COVID-19 outbreaks

Ontario now has 93 nursing homes with COVID-19 outbreaks as attention increasingly focuses on the plight of their vulnerable residents and a growing death toll.

That's four more homes in the last day with a total of 1,254 cases involving 813 residents and 437 staff to date and at least 135 dead, the Ministry of Health reported Tuesday.

The numbers were based on reports from public health units as of 4 p.m. Monday, hours after federal public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam noted "close to half" the country's novel coronavirus deaths are in long-term care facilities.

Despite Premier Doug Ford's calls for an "iron ring" of protections around nursing home residents, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the problem has been allowing staff such as personal support employees to work at more than one home, becoming vectors for infection.

"From the beginning of this pandemic, we should have restricted workers to one long-term-care home or group living facility," Horwath said.

Hard-hit nursing homes include Pinecrest in Bobcaygeon, where almost half the residents have died.

A Star compilation of data from Ontario's 34 regional health units as of 11 a.m. Tuesday shows an increase of 530 confirmed and probable cases across the province, a 6.4 per cent increase for a total of 8,637 since COVID-19 first arrived in late January.

That reflects a relatively slower growth in new cases seen recently, with experts saying the virus peak is expected this week, while deaths were up by 42, one of the largest single-day increases, to a total of 362.

The Ministry of Health reported that 3,568 people have now recovered from the new coronavirus. There were 769 Ontarians in hospital, including 255 in intensive care and 199 of them on ventilators to help them breathe.

Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robferguson1