ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the development of collective cognition of the risks associated with COVID-19 for residents in long-term care (LTC) in Canada during the first wave of the pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 in LTC homes was devastating, with 80 percent of total COVID-19 deaths having occurred in these facilities at the end of June 2020. The lag in implementation of measures to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 in these facilities suggests that collective cognition of the risk and actions necessary to reduce the risk was slow to develop. The situation was compounded by pandemic-related staff shortages in care homes, which led to lack of provision of basic daily care and further deaths from neglect. This chapter compares the timing of action to reduce COVID-19 risks in the LTC sector in different jurisdictions and explores how preexisting vulnerabilities and response factors contributed to the devastating impacts. The response to the threat of COVID-19 in the LTC sector in Canada is compared with other countries that took earlier mitigative actions to protect vulnerable elderly living in LTC.
