Sask. Nursing homes report 9 deaths related to COVID-19 in one day

Nine more nursing home residents in Saskatchewan have died after being infected with COVID-19, according to the operators of two homes.

Nine residents of Extendicare Parkside in Regina who tested positive for COVID-19 have now died. Six of those deaths were reported Monday.

On the same day, Luther Special Care Home reported three new deaths at its Saskatoon home, bringing the total number of COVID-19-related deaths there to seven.

“This has been an extraordinarily difficult time for our community,” Extendicare Parkside spokeswoman Laura Gallant said in a written statement.

An outbreak was originally declared in Parkside on November 20th. As of Monday, there were 94 active cases of COVID-19 among residents and an additional 53 active cases among staff.

Thirteen residents and six staff have recovered from the virus.

Over the weekend, 25 residents who tested negative were transported from Extendicare Parkside to the Regina Pioneer Village long-term care home for safety reasons.

Gallant said they are working with health officials to care for the home's remaining residents.

“All available resources have been deployed to remove this virus from Parkside as quickly as possible,” Gallant said. “We work with the SHA [Saskatchewan Health Authority] to enable more targeted care for all residents in the home.”

Gallant said next of kin have been notified.

“Our hearts go out to our community and those who have lost loved ones to this virus during this extremely challenging time,” she said.

There are 43 residents at the Luther Special Care Home who tested positive, all of whom are housed in the outbreak ward.

According to the update, there are 28 active cases, with more than 90 percent of those who tested positive occurring at least 14 days after symptoms appeared.

Twenty-one employees at Luther have also tested positive since the outbreak was reported last month.