Seniors continue to be hardest-hit by COVID-19, according to new numbers from Canada’s chief public health officer.
Dr. Theresa Tam says eight per cent of Canadians with the virus have died, and 94 per cent were aged 60 or older.
“Tragically, over 82 per cent of deaths are linked to long-term care and seniors homes, where outbreaks have been occurring since the outset,” said Tam on Thursday.
There have been more than 900 separate outbreaks in long-term care and assisted living homes, she said.
Seniors have also accounted for 71 per cent of all hospital admissions and 61 per cent of intensive care admissions.
Tam said the outbreak has occurred in most regions of Canada, but the vast majority of cases have been in Ontario and Quebec, with community transmission hotspots in the Toronto and Montreal areas.
As of mid-day Thursday, there were more than 93,400 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Canada and more than 7,500 deaths.
Tam said new modelling data shows there could be a total of 98,000 to 107,500 confirmed cases by June 15.
“The predicted number of deaths could be in the range of 7,700 to 9,400 by June 15,” she said.
Tam said public health measures remain essential to helping control the COVID-19 epidemic across the country.
She said the loosening of distancing must be accompanied by enhancements to other measures, including case detection and contact tracing.
“These models all tell us that if we relax too much or too soon, the epidemic will most likely rebound with explosive growth as a distinct possibility,” said Tam.
