In late December, the family members of  nursing home residents who had lost their lives to Covid-19 protested the mishandling of the virus within the home. 48 of the 200 residents at the Tendercare Living Centre were victims of Covid-19 because the nursing home was unable to provide its residents with enough oxygen, staff, and separation. A doctor at the home even admitted that Covid-infected patients were mixed in the same living quarters as uninfected patients, and by January, 74 residents had died.

Around 75% of Covid-19 related deaths occurred in Canada’s nursing homes. The Toronto Star wrote that it was “as if we have allowed [old people] to be put into coffins and buried alive,” in an issue covering the long-term elder care practices. Ontario nursing homes fought this stigma by vaccinating their residents in the middle of February.

The reason why nursing homes are having so much trouble containing Covid-19 is because they are overpopulated and, according to The Economist, they are “poorly regulated and many are badly designed.” This poses the question as to whether this lack of care in the eldercare department is a result of free health care, which has many wonderful benefits but also could have these kinds of side effects. The nursing homes that are understaffed and badly run could be the ones under the government’s medicare-for-all program, and although this program provides well-needed care to everyone no matter the money they have, it could lead to a lack of incentive.