Pickering wants investigation into coronavirus outbreak that killed 71 at long-term care home

The City of Pickering is calling on the provincial and federal governments to conduct an investigation into the coronavirus outbreak and deaths at the Orchard Villa long-term care home.

Orchard Villa has reported 71 COVID-19-related deaths among their 296 cases. A total of 189 cases have been resolved. Pickering has the most amount of cases in the Durham Region at 445 as of May 13.

The motion, which was passed unanimously by Pickering’s city council, also asks for other affected long-term care homes and retirement homes to be able to participate in the investigation. It also ask for the impacted families to be allowed to participate.

Deputy Mayor Kevin Ashe said in a release that he hopes something good can come out of the tragic circumstances.

“We must commit to ensuring that a tragedy of this magnitude never occurs again,” Ashe said. “Hopefully, the findings will lead to real and meaningful changes in how we care for and protect the residents of long-term care facilities.”

The Ontario government has committed to completing a review of long-term care homes when the province emerges from the pandemic. There have been no details released on the scope of the review.

Premier Doug Ford said when the review was announced last week:”Our main focus is to make sure it’s all hands on deck at long-term care. We know the system’s broken. …We’re going to have a complete review, not just long-term care.”

There have also been several calls for a public inquiry, including from the Ontario NDP, but the province has not confirmed whether it would conduct one.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath released a statement Thursday in support of the City of Pickering’s call for an investigation.

“Ontarians deserve answers, and they deserve to have confidence that this widespread preventable tragedy will never happen again,” she said.

“I have called for a non-partisan, independent public inquiry into the state of long-term care, the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic within long-term care, and the ongoing role in nursing homes of private for-profit corporations — like the one running Orchard Villa.”

The military was also called in last month to assist at five GTA homes that had been hit the hardest by the coronavirus, including Orchard Villa.

According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there are currently 185 homes experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak. Over 1,300 residents have died and 2,500 have been infected. A total of 1668 staff members have also tested positive for the coronavirus.

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