TORONTO -- A Toronto, Ont. long-term care home is reporting that at least 52 of its residents have passed away after contracting COVID-19.
The deaths were confirmed in a news release issued on Friday evening by GEM Health Care Group, the company that owns and operates Downsview Long-Term Care Home near Sheppard Avenue and Keele Street.
To date, the North York facility has reported that 124 residents and 101 employees have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Of the residents, eight have recovered, six are in hospital and 52 have passed away.
A personal support worker at the home has also died after contracting COVID-19, a union representing health-care workers said.
“The team at GEM Health Care Group is heartbroken by this latest loss of life,” the news release said. “Our sympathies and condolences go to the families and loved ones of these individuals and all who have been lost to COVID-19.”
GEM Health Care Group said that all the residents at Downsview have been re-tested for the disease.
The North York facility is just one Ontario long-term care home battling severe COVID-19 outbreaks since the pandemic was declared.
There are at least 10 long-term care facilities in the province reporting 40 or more deaths related to the novel coronavirus, including Downsview, Eatonville Care Centre, Seven Oaks, Altamont Care Community, Isabel and Arthur Meighen Manor, Camilla Care Community, Carlingview Manor, Forest Heights, Orchard Villa and Hawthorne Place Care Centre.
The Ministry of Long Term Care has said that more than 1,400 residents at Ontario facilities have died as a result of COVID-19.
