P.E.I. CPHO withholding LTC death details as count increases to 30

Following a review of death certificates, P.E.I.’s Chief Public Health Office has once again declined to provide specific information on COVID-19 deaths in long-term care facilities.

The CPHO has also declined to provide specific calendar dates of when deaths that were newly added to P.E.I.’s count of COVID-19 deaths occurred.

Since January, 30 of P.E.I.’s 45 COVID-19 deaths have been linked to long-term care or community care facilities.

On June 14 the CPHO reported that a review of death certificates determined COVID-19 was not an underlying or contributing cause of death for five deaths that had been previously reported as being linked to the pandemic. The review also found that 13 deaths, not previously reported as being linked to COVID-19, were COVID-19 related.

Days after this update was posted online, the number of deaths that occurred in P.E.I. long-term care or community care facilities increased from 25 to 30.

The first of death in P.E.I. linked to COVID-19 was reported on Jan. 14.

In an email, Morgan Martin, a senior communications officer with the Department of Health and Wellness, declined to provide the dates of either the 13 previously un-reported COVID-19 deaths or the five deaths that were previously reported as linked to the virus.

“To protect privacy, dates of deaths are not being reported as it could lead to identifying the cause of death for an individual,” Martin wrote in a June 22 email.

SaltWire also asked Martin to provide the names of long-term or community care homes within which five or more residents have died due to COVID-19.

The Chief Public Health Office identifies specific numbers of COVID-19 infections linked to each facility if cases are more than five. The CPHO says it does not report numbers of cases below five to protect the confidentiality of individuals.

Martin declined to confirm whether any long-term care or community care homes have had more five or more COVID-19 deaths.

“The names of facilities and linked associated deaths are not being provided,” Martin wrote.

“Death dates and associated facility will not be released by the CPHO to the public due to the potential for unintended disclosures of identifying an individual at a facility.”

The province has named a panel tasked with examining the performance of public and private long-term care homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The panel will examine the impact of the pandemic on long-term care staff and residents, as well as infection control and outbreak practices in individual homes.

Speaking with SaltWire on June 15, panel chair Michele Dorsey said the panel will be responsible to cabinet but intends to make its findings public.

She said the panel would have the power to identify data related to severe outcomes of COVID-19 at specific facilities. However, Dorsey stopped short of saying whether or not the panel would exercise this power.

“We will have that full scope of authority to identify specific issues. And if that relates to a specific facility or a concern, then I don’t see that being hampered in any way,” Dorsey said.