Almost half of care home residents not vaccinated by end of April
More than 80 people at long-term care homes have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic – including seven unvaccinated seniors who died.
Statistics released by the Ministry of Health revealed that 28 staff and 56 seniors in care homes contracted the virus between the start of 2020 and April 30 this year.
Four residents died in 2020, before the vaccine was available. Another three who did not receive the vaccine died this year.
More than 90 per cent – 76 people – of those who tested positive at care homes were not vaccinated.
The first rash of positives was in April last year – months before the vaccine became available – when there were 13 staff cases and 28 cases among residents.
Another seven care home residents tested positive in May.
It was earlier reported that 47 of the 48 cases were spread across five care homes.
There were another three residents who tested positive in Bermuda’s second wave last December and five staff cases.
There was one positive case among residents in January, before vaccinations started, and one staff case.
Seven care home staff and 11 residents who had not had their shots tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the vaccination programme.
There were two cases among residents in January, six in March and three in April.
There were four staff cases in March and three in April.
There were also six positive cases among fully immunised seniors – people who had been given two doses of the vaccine and two weeks had then passed.
Four were in March and two in April. It is not known if those seniors suffered any symptoms.
There were two positive cases recorded in April among staff who had received one dose of the vaccine.
The Royal Gazette: Is the Ministry of Health attempting to track how many long-term care workers have received the vaccine?
Ministry of Health: “As this is information which employees cannot be forced to disclose, the number for the sector, which the ministry is working on [providing] now, can only be an estimate.”
RG: Has the Government considered making it mandatory for long-term care workers to be vaccinated, particularly those working in government-run facilities?
MoH: “The Government has maintained their position that the issue of vaccination is a personal choice. Persons are encouraged to speak to their doctors and make an informed decision which is best for themselves. The Government has no plans to make vaccination mandatory for anyone.”
RG: Can the ministry comment generally on the total number of Covid-19 cases in long-term care facilities since the start of the pandemic?
MoH: “Modelling for this sector has not been done. Available data up until April 30, 2021 has a total of 84 cases among long-term care residents (56) and staff (28) – this does not equate to the long-term care facility being the source of all 84 cases.
“However, the ministry has contained any outbreak that has occurred in a long-term care setting and has taken significant successful steps in the areas of testing, limiting cross site work, vaccination, infection prevention and control education and training, as well as outbreak management within these environments to limit the spread of the virus. On balance, the ministry does consider its efforts to have been successful in limiting the spread of the virus.”
RG: All the Covid-19 deaths in long-term care facilities have been unvaccinated seniors. What is the ministry doing to convince relatives to give permission for their parents in care homes to get the vaccine?
MoH: “Since January, two care home specific education sessions were held and another is planned for this week. These are open to staff, residents and family.
“All information available to the general public has been promoted to care home administrators for their residents, families and staff (e.g. Facebook live events).
“In January, an information session with residents’ GPs and care home medical consultants was held to get their support to share and advise the homes, families and residents … regarding the vaccines.
“The long-term care team, in their ongoing work with the homes, encourages the administrators and registered nurses in charge to continue frequent communication with residents, staff, families and physicians regarding any concerns they may have about the vaccine. The long-term care team provides them with relevant information and resources as required.
“On-site vaccinations are available for residents and staff who choose to get vaccinated at their work site. The long-term care team has increased communication with care homes and key medical consultants regarding vaccinations, especially in light of the current June 8 deadline for the last first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.”
RG: Has the total number of vaccinated long-term care residents risen since April 30?
MoH: “There have been additional vaccinations since April 30. However this number is not immediately available for the sector as a whole.“
A ministry spokeswoman said the ministry does “consider its efforts to have been successful in limiting the spread of the virus” in long-term care facilities.
The Ministry of Health said 403 long-term care home residents out of a total of 740 had been given at least one dose of the vaccine by April 30.
That meant 337 seniors – more than 45 per cent of residents in care homes – remained unvaccinated as of April 30, despite the shots being offered to them first as the group most vulnerable to the coronavirus.
The problem was highlighted by David Burt in March when he said he was saddened by the number of people who had not given consent for parents in care homes to be vaccinated.
The Premier said he feared what would happen if there were outbreaks in rest homes.
The ministry spokeswoman said efforts continued to educate residents and staff about the benefits of getting the vaccine.
The statistics were released by the Ministry of Health after a public access to information request from The Royal Gazette.
The long-term care homes category includes 19 registered residential homes for seniors, as well as the long-term care units at Bermuda Hospitals Board.
The Ministry of Health’s information officer said she did not have details on how many workers in long-term care had received the Covid-19 vaccine, including those who work at the two government-run homes.
She explained: “This record does not exist for long-term care workers as a sector.
“Long-term care workers access their vaccination wherever they want and are not required to identify as a long-term care worker, just as all individuals could report or not where they worked.
“Accordingly, we cannot fully identify long-term care staff unless they self report.”
Ricky Brathwaite, CEO of Bermuda Health Council, said: “As a list of vaccinated care home staff is not a requirement of annual home licensure, we do not collect that information nor have access to Ministry of Health vaccination records in respect of that type of report.”
The island has suffered a total of 33 deaths linked to Covid-19.
Wesley Miller, BHB’s chief of staff, said last month: “If you are fully immunised, even if you were to get Covid, you certainly don’t die from it and that’s a remarkable fact.
“It has performed better than we could ordinarily expect and it’s for that reason that I would encourage people to go out and get vaccinated.”
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