7 Nunavut elders have COVID-19 at Ottawa long-term care home

There have been eight confirmed cases of COVID-19 and one recovery among Nunavut elders at Ottawa’s Embassy West Senior Living long-term care home, says Nunavut Health Minister John Main.

Main provided an update on the facility’s outbreak during the government’s Tuesday COVID-19 news conference.

He said the outbreak at the long-term care home is a “big concern” for the Health Department and department staff are encouraging family members to travel to Ottawa to help give care to their elders.

“It’s a situation that we’re monitoring very closely and we are continuing to look for ways that we can help the residents and their families,” Main said.

Those infected with the virus are doing well, said Selma Basic, director of operations at Embassy West.

“All our residents are doing great and all asymptomatic,” she wrote in an email.

Residents who are in an area of the facility with an outbreak are isolating in their rooms and communal dining and social programs have been suspended, she said.

Staff members at Embassy West are also checking residents’ temperatures twice a day and cleaning common areas every hour.

Basic added that a public health inspector reviewed the facility’s health measures.

“They were very satisfied with the protocols that Embassy West is following,” she wrote.

With files from Mélanie Ritchot