The Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) expects a ruling in “the next few days” after a court hearing on Wednesday involving its claims against Primacare Living Solutions, which operates Henley Place in London, Ont.

The association argues that its members have been working amid the coronavirus pandemic without proper protective equipment and that the home has not implemented “minimum infection control and safety measures needed to contain the uncontrollable outbreaks that are now taking place.”

In documents filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the ONA states that the first case of the novel coronavirus at Henley Place was confirmed March 29.

By April 13, two residents with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, had died, and eight other residents had tested positive for the virus, including one who was in the hospital, according to court documents. The documents also noted that “many others” had symptoms consistent with the virus.

At that time, only those in the same unit were being tested, according to London’s medical officer of health. As of April 22, the Ontario government expanded testing, saying all staff and patients within a long-term care home with an outbreak would be tested for the virus.

The documents also allege at least one instance in which a nurse was required to provide care to a resident who was known to have COVID-19 but was not provided with an N95 mask and instead given a surgical mask.

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The ONA also alleges that the home had a “sufficient stock of N95 respirators on hand” but that they had been moved to the locked office of the home’s administrator. Only three people had access to a key for the office, the ONA claimed, and they all worked the day shift.

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