As COVID-19 death toll rises, Ontario to prevent caregivers from working in more than one nursing home

Faced with the "wildfire" spread of deadly COVID-19 in nursing homes, Premier Doug Ford says he will prevent caregivers from working in more than one facility to better prevent transmission of the virus.

The promise came a day after he said such a move - long called for by critics and health-care organizations - would be difficult to implement in nursing homes, where at least 135 residents have died.

Ford also pledged "hospital-based teams" would be sent into hard-hit nursing homes to help doctors, nurses and personal support workers care for residents.

"Despite our best efforts, we're dealing with a wildfire at our long-term care homes," Ford acknowledged Tuesday, saying nursing homes are now on the "front line" in fighting the virus.

The moves follow criticism from NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and others that staff should have been limited to working in one care home as soon as the pandemic began.

"The time will come to evaluate the damage done by allowing this practice to continue for weeks during a pandemic," Horwath said Tuesday.

There are now outbreaks at 93 nursing homes in Ontario, including Pinecrest in Bobcaygeon which has lost half its residents to the new coronavirus.

Asked why he waited until now to move on the worker situation, Ford said "it's never too late."

An emergency order will be issued later today.

On Monday, federal public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam warned COVID-19 will keep killing long-term care residents even as the spread of the illness slows in the rest of the population.

The issue with staff working in more than one home is that they can spread any virus, not just COVID-19, from one to another. Many of the worker are employed at more than one facility because they cannot get full-time hours and need to string together a series of part-time jobs.

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