Four deaths in the province due to COVID-19 have been residents at Luther Special Care Home in Saskatoon. LutherCare Comunities have posted that the deaths occurred since the outbreak was declared on November 17th and there are currently 39 active resident COVID-19 cases at the facility. Visitation is limited to end of life reasons only.

Fourteen staff of the home have tested positive for COVID-19 although not all cases were due to contracting the illness at work. Management says they are working hard to contain the virus to one unit of the home through extensive infection control protocols. They do note that staffing remains a challenge.

Luther Special Care Home is one of the nine long term care homes in the province which will begin Abbott Panbio Point of Care testing with a device on site that allows for testing of COVID-19 and results in 15 minutes. Training is now underway.

There is also one active resident COVID-19 case at Luther Tower Independent Living. Access including visitation is temporarily suspended.