As early as January or February, the national director of public health, Horacio Arruda, worried that COVID-19 was spreading in residential settings for the elderly, he admitted on Monday, causing surprise to the public inquiry into the deaths that occurred in CHSLDs in Quebec in the spring of 2020.
“I have something that troubles me a bit as I listen to you. If we had planned it, it was [donc] in the scenarios that it was going to hit the CHSLDs? “Asked, incredulously, the coroner Géhane Kamel, who is leading the investigation.
Just before, Dr. Arruda had answered “yes, that’s for sure” to a question from lawyer Patrick Martin-Ménard, who represents the families of six people who died in CHSLDs. “In January, February, you envisioned that the CHSLDs were going to go there as well? He asked.
The lawyer obviously wanted to know if Quebec could have foreseen – and avoided – the sad scenario which played out in the CHSLDs. His questions also focused on Dr Arruda’s responsibility for decision-making.
“Any penetration into CHSLDs was for us [faire partie] significant risk elements, ”said Dr Arruda. He added that for this reason, Quebec had “quickly” requested the end of visits to CHSLDs. “We wanted to avoid penetration into an environment where he [pouvait y avoir] explosions [de cas]. “
Faced with the coroner’s surprise, the public health expert said he knew that “infectious diseases, in general, affect the most vulnerable” and that “the most vulnerable are in CHSLDs”. “So we knew we had to protect the elderly,” he explained.
Except that “in fact”, replied Coroner Kamel, “the hospitals, in mid-March, are more than ready to receive people”. “The teams are mobilized, but that’s not at all that in CHSLDs. The preparation is zero and one bar ”, she stressed. “These discussions [sur les dangers en CHSLD] took place before March 13 and it’s going full blast, it’s a bit disturbing, ”she added.
As a response guide, Dr Arruda said that “the sequence elements should be reviewed”. That said, “given what was happening in Italy, the ‘focus’ was on reorganizing the healthcare system,” he admitted. “But in fact, there may have been some issues with the management of an infection in healthcare settings that should have had…” he continued, without finishing his sentence. Regarding the CHSLD Herron, where 47 people died in the spring of 2020, he said that it was a situation that raised “several questions about the organizational model, following the reform as well”.
The national director of public health was also unable to say whether one of the 11 sub-committees set up to deal with the pandemic concerned seniors. “We should check with Ms. [Natalie] Rosebush, ”he said, referring to the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Elderly and Caregivers Branch.
“CHSLDs, was it really the blind spot of the preparation that was made in relation to the pandemic? », Then asked Me Martin-Ménard.
“It depends on what you mean by a blind spot,” Dr Arruda replied. “We knew that the elderly, wherever they were, were at risk. And as I tell you, from March 12, during the press briefing, and we very quickly banned visits to circles, ”he recalled.