COVID-19: Ontario long-term care commission to deliver final report to province Friday

TORONTO — Ontario’s Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission is to submit its final report to the provincial government today.

The commission has examined what went wrong in the province’s response to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read more:
Ontario LTC minister says she didn’t go public with COVID-19 concerns because she’s no expert

As of Thursday, 3,768 long-term care residents have died of COVID-19 in Ontario.

The commission interviewed a range of people and groups, from Long-Term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton to doctors and personal support workers to family members of residents who were ill.

Read more:
Ontario’s LTC sector not ‘sufficiently positioned, prepared’ to respond to COVID-19 in effective way: AG

The report is to include recommendations on how the province can protect long-term care homes from any future pandemics.

The commission has already released two sets of interim recommendations.