Covid-19 hit Canadian nursing homes. Now the deaths are down.

Data released this week in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, indicates the relative risk of death from Covid-19 among nursing home populations has dropped by 96%. Analyzes in other regions of the country suggest a similar trend. At Ontario facilities, the relative risk of Covid-19 infection decreased by 89% among residents and by 79% among health care workers.

The findings were based on data from February 23, when 92% of nursing home residents had received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, compared with 55% among nursing home staff. The authors measured how much the treatment reduced the risk of poor outcomes for a group of unvaccinated adults aged 70 or over living in their own homes in the community.

“This is the first good news for this section of the population,” said Dr. Nathan Stall, geriatrician and assistant scientific director of the Covid-19 advisory panel in Ontario, who produced the report with data showing a sharp drop in the risk of death.

Dr. Samir Sinha, head of geriatrics at the University of Toronto Health Network’s hospital group and co-chair of the Ryerson University Aging Institute, said the number of outbreaks of Covid-19 in 5,800 nursing homes in the country has dropped by 70% since the beginning of January. This coincides with significant decreases in the last two months in the seven-day average of confirmed cases of Covid-19, from over 9,000 to under 3,000, and related hospitalizations, from over 4,000 to 1,600.

Dr Sinha said most Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and related deaths nationwide now involve people aged 65 and over who still live at home. “That’s why the race is being vaccinated as many of them as we can,” he said. Provinces, such as Ontario, are now focusing on that segment of the population in the second phase of their vaccination launches.

Retirement homes in Canada were hit harder than any other major economy in the first months of the pandemic, with about 80% of Canada’s virus deaths from such facilities. In comparison, nursing homes accounted for less than 40% of Covid-19 deaths in the United States. National Institute on Aging, part of Ryerson University in Toronto.

When the pandemic hit, many of the country’s long-term care facilities – a mix of publicly owned and for-profit homes – were understaffed, poorly equipped and damaged. Doctors and Canadian Army soldiers were sent to help regional officials control outbreaks in these homes.

“Long-term care homes have been the epicenter of the virus in [Ontario] for the better part of the pandemic. And the vaccines have almost completely put out the fire, “said Dr. Stall. He described the study’s findings as “spectacular”, adding that the results justify the Canadian authorities’ decision to initially target nursing home residents and vaccination launch staff. The United States and the United Kingdom – both far ahead of Canada so far in inoculating their population – have also recommended that nursing home residents be a priority.

John Yip, executive director of Kensington Health, a nonprofit in Toronto that operates a nursing home for 350 residents, has seen a dozen residents die from Covid-19 in the past year. He said the mood of staff and residents was revived with the launch of the vaccination. To date, more than 95% of Kensington residents have received two doses, and the nursing home has been free of Covid-19 for about a month.

Mr Yip said the husband of a dementia resident wrote to him this week to convey that “things are getting better”, telling him how the couple shared a dance, while in disguise, to a song by Elvis Presley in during a visit. Others, he said, are smiling athletically for the first time in a while.

“I think we’re almost there,” said Mr Yip, about returning to an appearance of normalcy. The change in Canada comes as US federal authorities lifted restrictions on visiting nursing homes this week amid widespread vaccinations.

Canada’s pandemic rules for nursing homes vary by region, although for the most part they remain strict: there is generally a limited number of visitors, with a focus on family members considered essential caregivers.

The British Columbia Center for Disease Control said last month that a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine reduced the risk of transmission to long-term caregivers and health workers by two to three weeks. vaccination. Data from Quebec, which has the most Covid-19 cases and deaths related to nursing homes, suggests that four weeks after inoculation the vaccine’s effectiveness in containing transmission among long-term care residents reached 80%.

Canada’s vaccination rate, or adjusted doses, has risen sharply in the past two weeks to 7%, although it targets almost all major European economies and is far behind the UK and US Since Thursday, the average seven-day doses increased by 56% over two weeks, as did Pfizer Inc.

and Modern Inc.

accelerated shipments to make up for shortages at the beginning of the quarter due to reorganization and supply chain bottlenecks.

Write to Paul Vieira at [email protected]