Province working to contain Elmview Extendicare COVID outbreak

The Elmview Extendicare facility in Regina is currently dealing with a serious COVID-19 outbreak.

An outbreak declared Sept. 3 at the facility has seen all 46 residents, along with 15 staff members, test positive for the virus.

(Logan Stein/980 CJME)

The Saskatchewan Health Authority said in a statement to CJME/CKOM that three people who tested positive for COVID have died, but it’s unknown if COVID was the direct cause of their deaths.

Saskatchewan Health Minister Paul Merriman said Tuesday the province has stepped in to provide support for staff and residents.

“Just like with any outbreak that happens around the province, we step in with extra cleaning (and) make sure that there is PPE available,” he said, referring to personal protective equipment. “With Elmview, we wanted to make sure this was done immediately.”

According to the provincial government’s website, there currently are 14 COVID outbreaks in Regina. All of them are at long-term care or personal care homes.

Merriman added most of the cases at Elmview Extendicare are mild.

“This goes to show exactly what the vaccines are doing,” he said. “I was told there was a high vaccination rate within this specific facility, so I would imagine there would’ve been more challenging outcomes if those people weren’t vaccinated.”

He says most long-term care home residents in Saskatchewan have been offered several booster shots in order to protect them against COVID-19.

Merriman said the outbreak is a reminder to everyone that COVID is still with us.

“It’s not completely gone and we have to do our personal risk assessment and keep up with our vaccines,” he said. “It shows you how fast it can move and it could’ve been two or three days of people being asymptomatic and nobody knew that they were sick and by time the first symptoms show up, it could be all the way through the place.”

The SHA is set to take over operations of Extendicare’s five care homes in the province. The transition is to happen Oct. 9, but a final agreement is still pending.

The move to take control of the Extendicare operation in Saskatchewan was made after Parkside Extendicare in Regina became the site of Saskatchewan’s deadliest COVID outbreak in a long-term care home in December of 2020. Forty-two residents died during the outbreak, 39 of them from the virus.

The SHA’s Derek Miller noted the health authority was well-prepared to handle the outbreak at Elmview.

“As with anytime we have outbreaks at our facilities, we’re obviously very concerned about our residents and staff,” Miller explained. “We have established very specific protocols that our teams follow and we’re working together to make sure they’re fully supported.

“We are seeing that it is more mild than what we’ve seen in our previous outbreaks, but that isn’t to say there isn’t an impact,” he added.

There are currently 33 active cases related to the facility and 12 people have recovered.

Health officials said that at this time, staffing levels at the facility remain stable and that additional staff have been placed on site to assist.