Families fearful as Maimonides sees another spike in COVID-19 cases

A nurse at the Maimonides Geriatric Centre in Côte Saint-Luc, which has seen a spike of 40 new COVID-19 infections in just over a week, says staff are being forced to travel between hot and cold zones. 

The nurse, whom CBC News has agreed not to name because she says it could put her employment in jeopardy, says the centre was mostly COVID-free until a resident on the third floor tested positive for the virus about 12 days ago.

"The head nurses are saying, 'Go home and take a shower, change your clothes and the next day you can work in the green zone [from the red zone]," the nurse said. 

She says the home is now severely short-staffed and workers are questioning the quality of the personal protective equipment (PPE) they are provided, as seven staff members tested positive on one floor. 

"The morale is low. We are burned out. We are tired. At night, there is one nurse and one patient attendant for 70 patients," she said. 

Over the weekend, 10 more residents of the long-term care facility tested positive for COVID-19 and, as of last week, more than a dozen staff members were in self-isolation after testing positive, says a group of family and friends in an open letter to the province.
 
The letter is signed by members of the Maimonides Family Advocacy Group, a group of family members and caregivers that formed through social media in the early days of the pandemic. The group is focused on helping residents of the centre, and pushing the government to do more to help. 

The shortage of nurses and caregivers has led to workers moving between floors, likely spreading the disease further, the letter states.
 
The group says much more needs to be done to protect residents.
 
"Collectively, you claimed to have learned from mistakes made during the first wave," the letter says.
 
"It is time to take those lessons learned and put them into practice in Maimonides and other CHSLDs across Quebec, before countless other vulnerable seniors suffer and die in long-term care."
 
According to provincial data, there were three new cases in the last 24 hours at the centre, bringing the total of infected residents up to 11.8 per cent of the centre's capacity. 
 
The regional health authority, CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, has yet to comment on the situation.

Jeremy Hockenstein's 75-year-old father, Micheal Hockenstein, was one of the residents who tested positive over the weekend. 

"It's obviously very scary. I know that he still has a very good chance of making it through, but it's a terrible illness that can turn bad at any moment," Hockenstein said. 

He said he and his family haven't been able to reach his father since he was transferred into the home's hot zone on the seventh floor, but that they know staff are doing their best in the situation. 

"It's understandable that a case or two might come in, but given all the PPE and all the precautions, it's really just frustrating that it keeps spreading so widely," he said.

The centre was hit hard by the first wave and 74-year-old resident Beverly Spanier worries the home has not learned from its mistakes.

"We went through all this before," she said. She thinks the virus will continue to spread unless those who are positive are moved into a hospital.