- Sienna Senior Living (SIA) is still struggling to deal with COVID-19 outbreaks at 28 of its 83 owned or managed residences
- As of January 24, 23 long-term care and 5 retirement residences have COVID-19 outbreaks
- The company said high rates of community transmission remain a key risk factor
- Sienna said since mid-December 2020, its vaccination task force has been supporting the roll-out of the vaccine across all of its residences in Ontario and British Columbia
- Sienna Senior Living is up 1.19 per cent to per share at C$13.62
Sienna Senior Living (SIA) is still struggling to deal with COVID-19 outbreaks at 28 of its 83 owned or managed residences.
As of January 24, 23 long-term care and 5 retirement residences have COVID-19 outbreaks.
The company said high rates of community transmission remain a key risk factor for COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care residences, which are especially hard to contain in older Class C homes.
Sienna President and CEO Nitin Jain said the year has started with both promise and urgency in the fight against COVID-19.
“I have witnessed first-hand at our residences the dedication and courage of our incredible team members as they fight COVID-19 despite rapid spread in their local communities,” Jain said.
When it comes to vaccines, the company said since mid-December 2020, Sienna’s vaccination task force has been supporting the roll-out of the vaccine across all of its residences in Ontario and British Columbia.
As of January 22, 2021, approximately 75 per cent of Sienna’s long-term care residents and approximately 52 per cent of Sienna’s long-term care team members have been vaccinated.
While the vaccine roll-out across long-term care residences remains a priority for provincial governments, vaccinations have also commenced at some of Sienna’s retirement residences with approximately 28 per cent of residents and approximately 25 per cent of team members vaccinated to date.
“The arrival of vaccines is a turning point and will be our most impactful defence in the fight against COVID-19,” said Dr. Andrea Moser, Chief Medical Officer of Sienna.
“As team members, residents and essential caregivers are being vaccinated, we continue to have stringent precautions in place to reduce the impact of COVID-19 at our residences,” Moser said.
On January 5, 2021, the Government of Ontario announced an additional $398 million in funding for costs related to enhanced staff and visitor testing requirements and continued prevention and containment efforts.
In addition, the Government of Ontario announced the extension of its occupancy protection funding for long-term care residences until February 28, 2021 in support of infection and prevention protocols.
This will support long-term care providers in limiting rooms with three or four beds to a maximum of two residents per room.
The Government of Ontario is also to funding an increased pay of $3/hour for personal support workers in long-term care communities.
Sienna recently appointed Stephen Roy as Senior Vice President, Real Estate Development and Construction.
Last year, The Toronto Star reported that Sienna had some of the province’s highest rates of COVID-19 infection and deaths and that the company paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in dividends and executive compensation over the last decade.
Sienna Senior Living is up 1.19 per cent to per share at C$13.62 at 11:57 am EST.
