Quebec Premier François Legault said 31 people have died at a private Montreal-area seniors’ residence since March 13 — five, so far, confirmed from COVID-19. Legault said the situation “looks a lot like major negligence.”
Quebec Premier François Legault said 31 people have died at a private Montreal-area seniors’ residence since March 13 — five, so far, confirmed from COVID-19.
A sombre Legault, visibly pale as he spoke at Saturday’s provincial news conference, cancelled a planned day off to deal with the fallout and share with the public a situation that he said “looks a lot like major negligence.”
COVID-19 has infiltrated many of Quebec’s CHSLDs, which is the French acronym for a seniors’ residence or long-term care centre. But the toll at CHSLD Herron, located in the West Island suburb of Dorval, is especially grim.
Public health authorities said they first took stock of the situation at the Herron on March 29.
“We know that they were struggling to keep their ratios of staff to residents,” said Lynne McVey, president and CEO of the public health agency for the western region of Montreal, at a news conference later Saturday afternoon.
“And they had asked us for help and we did provide, on some shifts, help to go into the residence to help care for their patients.”
However, McVey said, the Herron’s owners did not fully co-operate, a development she described as “extraordinary.”
It was only after issuing two formal notices and an eventual court order under Quebec’s Public Health Act that officials were able to see residents’ medical files and information about family contacts, McVey said.
Katasa Development Group, based in Gatineau, owns CHSLD Herron and six other seniors’ residences in Quebec.
The court order, issued on April 8, allows the regional he