RSV outbreaks in 3 Ottawa long-term care homes

There's another health threat officials are tracking in Ottawa and across the province—RSV outbreaks in long-term care homes.

In Ottawa the Hillel Lodge, Centre d'Accueil Champlain and Peter D. Clark Centre are listed as long-term care homes having outbreaks, according to Ottawa Public Health.

The OPH dashboard also reflects retirement homes, schools and childcare centres dealing with an outbreak classified as "respiratory infection unspecified."

"We are seeing RSV get into long-term care homes and some real concerns about it taking over the home," said Laura Tamblyn Watts, the CEO of CanAge, Canada's national seniors' advocacy organization.

The respiratory virus with symptoms that typically mimic the common cold can cause severe infection in babies, but also seniors and anyone with a weak immune system.

"It is highly contagious and we're seeing in some cases a doubling and tripling in this area now," said Watts. "It's still early days, it's only been for the last couple of weeks, but we are seeing it trend up sharply."

When it comes to COVID-19, Ontario pharmacists will be allowed to prescribe Paxlovid, a medication for those who have a positive COVID-19 test, and are primarily over 60 or immunocompromised. Previously, patients would need a prescription from a doctor to access the drug.

"We know that by using Paxlovid within five days from the onset of symptoms that we can prevent severe symptoms and our ultimate goal is to prevent hospitalizations," said Justin Bates, the CEO of the Canadian Association of Pharmacists.

About 4,000 pharmacies have been dispensing the drug but it's unclear how many will opt-in to have their pharmacists prescribe it. 

New data released Thursday reveals hospital wait times hit a new historic high in October. The average time to be admitted was 22.9 hours, up from 21.3 in September. Only 21 per cent of patients were admitted within the provincial standard of eight hours.

Tamblyn Watts says the Ontario government needs to track RSV like it does the number of COVID-19 cases.

"That means families need to look at their local health regions and look online to see if there's an outbreak in the long-term care home of their loved one," said Watts. "Unfortunately, however, it's not always listed as RSV. We're seeing a lot of 'unknown' or 'other' or 'undefined."