Egypt unveils 100 coffins dating back 2,500 years

Egyptian antiquities officials said some sarcophagi had mummies inside and there were around 40 gilded statues in a vast necropolis south of Cairo

An archaeologist cleans a statue during the unveiling of an ancient treasure trove of more than a 100 intact sarcophagi. AFP

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Egyptian antiquities officials on Saturday announced the discovery of at least 100 ancient coffins, some with mummies inside, and around 40 gilded statues in a vast Pharaonic necropolis south of Cairo.

Colourful, sealed sarcophagi and statues that were buried more than 2,500 years ago were displayed in a makeshift exhibit at the feet of the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara.

Archaeologists opened a coffin with a well-preserved mummy wrapped in cloth inside. They also carried out X‐raying visualising the structures of the ancient mummy, showing how the body had been preserved.

Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled El Anany told a news conference that the discovered items date back to the Ptolemaic dynasty that ruled Egypt for some 300 years – from around 320BC to about 30BC, and the Late Period (664-332 BC).

He said they would move the artefacts to at least three Cairo museums including the Grand Egyptian Museum that Egypt is building near the famed Giza Pyramids. He said they would announce another discovery at the Saqqara necropolis later this year.

The discovery at the famed necropolis is the latest in a series of archaeological finds in Egypt. Since September, antiquities authorities revealed at least 140 sealed sarcophagi, with mummies inside most of them, in the same area of Saqqara.

READ MORE


  

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Egypt unearths dozens of 2,500-year-old coffins in major discovery

Egyptian archaeologists found other “shafts full of coffins, well-gilded, well-painted, well-decorated,” Mostafa Waziri, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters on Saturday.

The Saqqara site is part of the necropolis at Egypt’s ancient capital of Memphis that includes the famed Giza Pyramids, as well as smaller pyramids at Abu Sir, Dahshur and Abu Ruwaysh. The ruins of Memphis were designated a Unesco World Heritage site in 1970s.

Egypt frequently touts its archaeological discoveries in hopes of spurring a vital tourism industry that has been reeling from the political turmoil following the 2011 popular uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The sector was also dealt a further blow this year by the coronavirus pandemic.

Trumpworld's faux-intellectual grifters are helping him debase democracy with bogus 'voter fraud' claims. And Republicans rake in the cash.

afisher@businessinsider.com (Anthony L. Fisher) 

© Ty O'Neil/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images CARSON, NEVADA, UNITED STATES - 2020/11/08:

Trump lost the election, by a lot. Because he's too weak to admit he's a loser, he's damaging democracy. 

Internet "skeptics" are amplifying his fake voter fraud claims by engaging in baseless speculation couched in faux intellectual inquiry. 

The skeptics created smoke in search of a fire, but these gullible simpletons are just helping Republicans raise money, while GOP voters' faith in the democratic process plummets. 

This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Trump seems intent on not admitting that he lost the election. He seems doubly intent on ignoring the fact that he will lose the election by slightly more than the electoral college margin by which he defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016 — while also losing the popular vote by twice that election's margin.

Instead of accepting the plain reality staring him in the face, Trump insists there has been widespread voter fraud, while providing zero compelling evidence.

He's been peppering his base with voter fraud allegations for years (remember his shameless lie about caravans of illegal 2016 voters in New Hampshire?). And the president spent months pre-emptively subverting public confidence in the election to keep his base exorcised if he were to lose (which he has, decisively).

Meanwhile, the facts are not in Trump's favor. The right-wing Heritage Foundation tried to prove an epidemic of voter fraud in the US and came up with 1,298 cases of alleged election misconduct. But that was spread out over 36 years and 1,826,807,464 ballots. Heritage effectively proved voter fraud is a negligible issue.

And in a joint statement by the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council Executive Committee and Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Council, the non-partisan government election watchdogs stated plainly: "There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised."

"The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history," the agencies declared.
Republicans refuse to push back

But all that "evidence" is just Deep State hooey to the "very stable genius" in the White House. Trump still won't accept the message that he's been fired — with good cause — by the American people.

The president's disdain for the will of the people goes hand in glove with his idealization of "tough" authoritarian tactics and "strong" authoritarian leaders. Trump's never going to be a dictator, but when it comes down to it, he's just not that into democracy.

Also not being much of a reader or law-abider, it's conceivable that Trump may legitimately not know he can't illegally occupy the White House after January. And most of his fellow Republicans don't seem inclined to tell him, so they're sitting back while he smashes the retweet button on every berserk internet fabrication that comes across his screen.

(In a thread that spans hundreds of tweets —with more coming every few hours! — the journalist Issac Saul has attempted to assemble a comprehensive debunking depot for suspicious-sounding but ultimately baseless voter fraud claims spreading across the internet.)

To be sure, there are a few Republicans willing to "bravely" demonstrate that they live in a reality-based world.

George W. Bush's political mastermind Karl Rove wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that there's "no evidence" of voter fraud.

The Trump-appointed Election Assistance Commission Chairman Benjamin Hovland told Insider that the president's claims of voter fraud are "shameful," they "hurt the fabric of our nation," and the "undermining of confidence in our elections and our democracy" is "exactly what our foreign adversaries want to see."

Republican Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt — who sits on the board that oversees elections — probably put it best to CNN: "I have seen the most fantastical things on social media, making completely ridiculous allegations that have no basis in fact at all ... One thing I can't comprehend is how hungry people are to consume lies."

There'd be less to worry about if most of Trump's fellow Republicans similarly cared enough about the country's future as a liberal democracy to insist that he accept the will of the people, graciously concede, and help provide a stable transition of power to the next democratically-elected administration.

If the GOP stepped up and denounced the president's wild theories, then Trump could continue to be a clown who debases the country to enrich himself — but he'd just be an increasingly irrelevant one.

Unfortunately for our democracy, there's money to be raised, and two runoff elections in Georgia that will determine the balance of power in the Senate.

So the GOP tacitly supports Trump's very lame but very dangerous assault on democracy. They're ok with poisoning their party's voters' faith in a fair US presidential election. According to a Politico/Morning Consult poll, almost 70% of Republican voters said the election was not "free and fair," a figure which doubled in the week after the election.

Backing up Republicans' cynical refrains that there should be "investigations" into supposed voter fraud — essentially demanding that a negative be proven — is an internet and talk radio echo chamber of people "just asking questions."

Much as Trump usually takes care to say he's just asking questions when power-spraying absolute nonsense conspiracy theories into the brains of his followers and the willful idiots of the internet that are creating a cacophony of doubt.

Where Pizzagaters and QAnoners become Math PhDs

In the fever swamps of the internet where Pizzagate, QAnon, and the hoax conspiracy theories about the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich were born — the democracy skeptics are "just asking questions."

They know all the evidence points to a typically fair and free US election, one that for all the fears it would be a disaster of disenfranchisement, actually worked out pretty well!

Even in the midst of a pandemic, there was record voter turnout. Media outlets were cautious and patient with their calls. And despite the unnecessary confusion created by the GOP's efforts to prevent early votes from being counted as they arrived, even the one-time vote-counting basket case state of Florida did a pretty admirable job of staving off Election Day chaos.

Still the skeptics insist that there's sufficient smoke to suspect fire.

They're not saying Trump lost the election because of massive, multi-state voter fraud requiring the complicity of both Democratic and Republican officials...they're "just asking questions."

But these questions lead nowhere but back to their typically anonymous sources.

Case in point is a viral thread by an anonymous pro-Trump Twitter account that claimed to show information "provided via an anonymous data scientist and another anonymous individual" who created a script analyzing "ballot counting time data."

The last tweet in the thread reads: "Please disseminate as necessary. Good luck. Stay safe. Be kind to your neighbors. #Epsteindidntkillhimself."

And just like that, a supposedly "intellectual" unmasking of the Deep State conspiracy to rig millions of ballots across many states for Joe Biden — but not for the down ballot elections that were overwhelmingly favorable to Republicans — had been born.

It was featured on the popular right-of-center site ZeroHedge and shared by Intellectual Dark Web "liberals" with huge online audiences. That's greater dissemination than most conspiracy theories are blessed with, and backed up with impressive-sounding but incorrect math lexicon. And there's no putting the genies back in the bottle.

Similarly, for a few days last week "Benford's Law" was the talk of pro-Trump conspiracy theory sites like Gateway Pundit, and suddenly every Alex Jones fan miraculously had a math PhD. When actual math-doers noted that the theory is essentially useless for analyzing election results, it didn't matter to the "just asking questions" crypto-Trumpists.

The skeptics had created smoke in search of a fire.

Voter fraud truthers believe they possess special sunglasses allowing them to see through the lies of the "globalist mainstream media" and Deep State establishment.

In actuality, these gullible simpletons are helping to enrich Republican political coffers.

But under the guise of caring about a fair vote count — which we're already well on the way to getting — the voter fraud truthers are willfully damaging democracy.

Lighting bridge in colours for anti-abortion group 'polarizing', Edmonton lawyers say

ABORTION IS LEGAL IN CANADA 

ANTI-ABORTION SHOULD NOT BE

CATHOLIC CHARITIES DO POLITICAL LOBBBYING 

WITH TAX FREE DONATIONS

EDMONTON — Lawyers representing the City of Edmonton say the city decided not to light a bridge in colours requested by an anti-abortion group because it risked polarizing the community, a judge heard Friday\

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The Alberta March for Life Association asked a judge last year to review the city's decision to cancel lighting the High Level Bridge in 2019 in the group's requested colours — pink, blue and white — after the city initially approved the request.

A lawyer for the Justice Centre For Constitutional Freedoms, which is representing the association, said the pink and blue colours would have represented unborn boys and girls.

The bridge stretches over the North Saskatchewan River and is outfitted with 60,000 programmable lights that are often lit to recognize major events and cultural celebrations.

Documents filed in court say Jerry Pasternak, vice-chairman of the association, asked for the bridge to be lit to recognize the association's annual March for Life, which the group has been co-ordinating in Edmonton since 2008.

The city approved the request in March, but later cancelled it in April, a month before the scheduled march, citing the "polarizing nature of the subject matter."

James Kitchen, a lawyer for the Justice Centre For Constitutional Freedoms, told court that Edmonton is home to a diverse population with a wide variety of views, values and beliefs, including people with pro-life views.

"The expression of pro-life opinions is part of the diversity of expression found in a free society, and is protected by the charter," Kitchen said. He pointed to section 2 (b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that gives Canadians the fundamental freedom of expression.

Kitchen also argued that the city has lit the bridge for causes in the past that promoted sexual and gender diversity, LGBT Pride, and various Islamic holidays and celebrations.

He noted that the city has also lit the bridge in association with International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day and disability awareness campaigns.

Kitchen said Edmonton’s decision last year unjustifiably violated the association's freedom of expression and that the policy the city uses to manage the lighting of the bridge violates free expression.

Lawyers representing the city countered that the city has permitted the group to gather for its annual march, including closing roads. They said that shows that freedom of expression was not suppressed.

They argued that lighting the bridge -- which is owned by the city and maintained with tax dollars -- makes some citizens interpret the lights as a message from the City of Edmonton.

"Various postings (against the lighting of the bridge) on Twitter represent a microcosm of community at large," said Shayne Abrams, a lawyer representing the city.

She pointed to a frenzy that erupted on social media when the city announced it would light the bridge for the anti-abortion group.

"These (messages) show that the message of March For Life polarizes the community and shows that some citizens take the lights as a message from the city," Abrams said.

She agreed many topics that engage public discourse can be polarizing but argued that some do it in an extreme way.

"The one we are talking about (abortion) is one of those. What the city is doing, by using the word 'risk', they are trying to set a minimal level," Abrams said.

Abrams said there is a benefit to refusing to light the bridge for particular causes because it can limit detrimental effects of polarization.

The court adjourned Friday evening with no word on when a decision would be made.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2020.

______

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press

Coronavirus: Ontario’s worst hit nursing homes and who owns them 

“And so the bottom line is it is now irrefutable that the for-profit homes, the larger chains, in particular, have a strong correlation with the highest death rates of COVID-19 in our province.”

By Stewart Bell & Andrew Russell Global News
Posted June 16, 2020 


WATCH: 2 companies own nearly half of the Ontario LTC homes worst hit by COVID-19 – Jun 16, 2020 https://globalnews.ca/news/7059683/coronavirus-ontarios-worst-hit-nursing-homes/


Almost a third of the Ontario nursing home residents who have died of COVID-19 were living at facilities owned by just two corporate chains, according to a Global News analysis of government statistics.

Sienna Senior Living and Revera Inc. long-term care facilities have lost 525 residents altogether, according to the figures. The data also shows that more than half the deaths at all nursing homes in the province were at facilities owned by six companies.

The province puts the number of nursing home deaths related to COVID-19 at 1,786 as of June 12. The data is self-reported by the long-term care homes to the province.

Canada’s long-term care homes have borne the brunt of the pandemic. In Ontario, more than 7,000 residents and staff have become infected, and almost three-quarters of those who died were nursing homes residents.

While there were outbreaks at several hundred care homes, a much smaller number suffered large-scale deaths — and most were owned by a handful of private companies.


6 companies nearly 1,000 deaths



Using Ontario government figures on COVID-19 deaths in long-term care, Global News matched each home with an outbreak to its owner to see how they had fared during the pandemic.

The numbers only include deaths at homes that lost five or more residents, as the province does not release figures for care homes with fewer than five resident deaths.

As the largest owners, Sienna and Revera were particularly hard hit. Sienna homes have lost 295 residents to the pandemic, while Revera homes have seen 230 deaths. Many of their homes had no deaths or outbreaks.

Families react to allegations at 5 Ontario care homes – May 27, 2020
https://globalnews.ca/news/7059683/coronavirus-ontarios-worst-hit-nursing-homes/


Six Sienna homes experienced 20 or more deaths, compared with four Revera homes and four Rykka homes. Two Sienna homes had more than 50 deaths, as well as two Revera homes.

Of the 14 homes that lost more than a quarter of their residents, three were Sienna homes, two were Southbridge homes and one was a Rykka home. Three were non-profits. At four Revera homes, at least 20 per cent of residents died.

“We have a very serious problem with long-term care facilities, but it’s not a problem that started with COVID-19,” said professor Tamara Daly, a professor of health policy and director of York University’s Centre for Aging Research & Education who has been studying the issue for two decades.

Ontario has the highest number of for-profit care homes in Canada, with 57 per cent of the more than 600 facilities owned or managed by for-profits, according to Daly’s research. In B.C. and Alberta, roughly 44 per cent and 40 per cent are for-profits.

5:32 https://globalnews.ca/news/7059683/coronavirus-ontarios-worst-hit-nursing-homes/

A closer look at Canada’s long-term care crisisA closer look at Canada’s long-term care crisis – Jun 16, 2020

Understaffing and reliance on part-time workers were key drivers in nursing home outbreaks, said Daly.

For-profit homes generally had more part-time and casual workers, which can lead to a greater spread of infection as staff employed at multiple facilities move between workplaces, she said.

Non-profit and municipal homes tended to have higher levels of full-time staff, meaning support workers had a better understanding of the needs of those they were caring for, Daly said.

“You have better care outcomes associated with more continuity. It’s really straightforward,” she said.
For-profit vs. non-profit

Why non-profit nursing homes provide better care for residents – Jun 16, 2020

https://globalnews.ca/news/7059683/coronavirus-ontarios-worst-hit-nursing-homes/

But the debate over private versus public homes is far from settled.

According to SEIU Healthcare, the union representing thousands of the province’s long-term care workers, for-profit homes had 7.2 deaths per bed during the pandemic.

By contrast, homes operated by non-profit groups had 4.5 deaths per bed, while those owned by municipal governments fared best, with 2.4 deaths per bed, the union said.

Preliminary data from Ontario Long Term Care Association, however, said 85 per cent of privately-owned homes had no deaths as a result of COVID-19, compared to 82 per cent of not-for-profit homes.

A Sienna spokesperson said that while some of its homes were “hit by challenging outbreaks, the vast majority of our 70 residences across the country have experienced few, if any, cases of COVID-19.”

Natalie Gokchenian said in a statement that “having reviewed current information, I can confirm that the number of deaths as a percentage of outbreak beds is lower than that of other long-term care providers in the province.”

One of the country’s largest long-term care providers, Sienna operates homes in Ontario and British Columbia. The company reported profits of $7.5-million in 2019, down from $21.8-million in 2017.

READ MORE: Inspection reports found mouse feces, neglect, abuse at Ontario long-term care homes before COVID-19

Sienna homes include Camilla Care Community, where 68 have died, and Madonna Care Community, with 46 deaths. The Canadian Forces was deployed to Sienna’s Altamont Care Community, which has had 53 deaths.

At Altamont, the military reported “significant staffing issues” and underfed residents. Most recently, troops were sent to Sienna’s Woodbridge Vista, where 62 residents and staff are infected, and 23 have died.

Sienna president and CEO Lois Cormack resigned for personal reasons, the company announced Friday.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have worked closely with public health authorities and health-care partners to ensure all precautions, protocols and directives are in place and that we continue to have adequate supplies of personal protective equipment available for all team members,” Gokchenian said.

The company has launched a six-point plan that aims to improve operations and delivery of care, she said. “The action plan includes an immediate, company-wide review into our policies, practices and culture at Sienna led by former Deputy Attorney General of Ontario, Paul Boniferro.”



Revera Inc. owns and operates more than 500 seniors residences in North America and the United Kingdom. Its Ontario homes include Carlingview Manor in Ottawa, which has had 61 resident deaths, and Forest Heights in Kitchener, where 51 have died.

The company is owned by PSP Investments, a Crown corporation and the investment arm for federal public servant pensions. Revera is also facing two class-action lawsuits in Ontario and Alberta.

“Some Revera homes have suffered serious outbreaks, and the hearts of our entire organization go out to the families and friends of the people we have lost to this tragic pandemic and the staff who cared for them,” said company spokesperson Larry Roberts.

“There are many variables and factors that have played a part in why COVID-19 spread and affected some homes and not others, however objective data has not shown that ownership is one of them.”

Roberts said the company was “adapting and evolving our practices and protocols in accordance with the latest medical advice and public health directives.” He said Revera would respond to lawsuits against the company “in due course in the appropriate forum.”

READ MORE: How to make long-term care homes ‘good living’

Ontario Long Term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton’s office said ward rooms and congestion had amplified the spread of COVID-19 at nursing homes.

“These are long-standing structural and capacity issues that, coupled with a severe staffing shortage that predates the virus, have led to the tragedy we have seen in our homes,” the statement said.

The union representing federal public servants wants PSP Investments to divest itself of Revera Inc. amid what it called “mounting and overwhelming evidence” of the “extremely disproportionate” rate of COVID-19 infection and death in long-term-care homes.

Homes run by Rykka, an operating partner of Responsive Management Inc., based in Markham, Ont., had 132 deaths at four facilities, the third-most in the province, the analysis of government data shows.

They include Hawthorne Place Care Centre and Eatonville Care Centre, where a military report said residents were left in soiled diapers and there was a “culture of fear” among workers worried about using supplies like wipes, gloves and dressing gowns.

1:21 https://globalnews.ca/news/7059683/coronavirus-ontarios-worst-hit-nursing-homes/

Coronavirus outbreak: What Premier Ford has to say to families after ‘heart-breaking’ military report on some long-term care homes

Coronavirus outbreak: What Premier Ford has to say to families after ‘heart-breaking’ military report on some long-term care homes


Doug Ford reacts to ‘horrific’ military report on five Ontario long-term care homes


Families outraged after report alleges horrible conditions in Ontario long-term care homes


Military alleges abuse, neglect at five Ontario long-term care homes


Coronavirus outbreak: Nothing is off the table in solving long-term care home crisis, Trudeau says

Responsive Management said the company was spending all the money it received from the government on staffing, support services, food and supplies like personal protective equipment.

“Most of our homes managed to keep COVID-19 at bay and the rest have turned the corner thanks to the dedicated efforts of our staff,” said Linda Calabrese, vice-president of operations.

“Many of our staff members have been able to come back to work and we are seeing residents recover fully. We are hopeful that we can declare the outbreak over in our homes soon,” she said.

READ MORE: Long-term care facilities are the only option for many. What happens when they fall short?

Ontario’s worst-hit home was Orchard Villa, with 70 deaths. The company that owns the facility, Southbridge, had a total of 126 COVID-19 deaths at five homes, according to the analysis of government data.

“While the majority of our homes had no or very few cases, COVID-19 presented Orchard Villa with some unique challenges as one of the homes that went into outbreak early,” company spokesperson Richard Franzke said.

“The guidance and recommendations from government and health authorities evolved since then, which ultimately enhanced the support for the sector. The home also experienced staffing shortages as a result of COVID-19. To address our staffing needs, we reached out for help early and often.”

“Nothing is more important to us than the residents in our care, and we want to ensure that we are always meeting or exceeding our commitment to providing the highest standard of care.”

Coronavirus outbreak: Trudeau says CAF to assist with Ontario, Quebec long-term care homes until June 26


Families desperate for changes to long-term care after COVID-19 outbreaks


Ontario man chains himself to tree protesting conditions of long-term care homes


Coronavirus: Ontario registered nurse describes conditions after scathing long-term care report


Coronavirus: Ontario families launch lawsuits in wake of grim long-term care findings


Coronavirus: Ontario Government takes over 5 homes, commits to independent commission on long-term care

Sharleen Stewart, president of SEIU Healthcare, said private homes received the same provincial funding from the provincial government but also had to generate profits for shareholders, meaning there was less to spend on staff and supplies.

“Even before COVID we could see the difference from the staffing perspective,” Stewart said. “The workers were telling us how different it was in those homes, and as you know, they do work in more than one.”


“It’s pretty glaring that the for-profits have got a real problem.”

She said the union is calling for an inquiry into what happened.

“It’s not to point fingers. It’s to identify what didn’t work and what worked. I mean, look at the municipal homes and the not-for-profits, they have better outcomes, and they have the same issues.

The Ontario Health Coalition said staffing was a key factor in the pandemic.

In April, the staffing crisis worsened when employees were banned from working at multiple locations in order to curb the spread of COVID-19, forcing them to choose a single home.

Many chose not to work at for-profit homes, which generally offered worse wages, benefits and working conditions than facilities operated by non-profits or municipalities, said executive director Natalie Mehra.

She said the coalition’s research had discounted factors such as the number of beds operated by owners and the acuity of the resident population as a measure of how homes had coped with the pandemic.

“And so the bottom line is it is now irrefutable that the for-profit homes, the larger chains, in particular, have a strong correlation with the highest death rates of COVID-19 in our province.”

Who owns the 5 Ontario long-term care homes cited by military for extreme neglect, abuse?
 
By Andrew Russell & Stewart Bell Global News
Posted May 29, 2020 

WATCH: Families react to allegations at 5 Ontario care homes – May 27, 2020

https://globalnews.ca/video/rd/32c1ec32-a079-11ea-a714-0242ac110002/?jwsource=cl

A searing report from Canada’s military into Ontario’s troubled long-term-care system where over 1,600 people have died from COVID-19 put a spotlight on the for-profit companies managing some of these facilities.

The Ontario government released the report on Tuesday after Global News published details of the findings, which revealed shocking allegations of neglect and abuse at five Ontario homes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called “deeply disturbing.”

READ MORE: Military teams raise concerns about conditions at Ontario care homes

Ontario premier Doug Ford announced Wednesday the government is taking control of five long-term care homes, including four that the Canadian military says neglected and abused residents.

New data from the Ontario Health Coalition shows 1,629 residents have died at long-term care and retirement residences and 10 staff have died as of May 19.

Here is a closer look at the companies behind the five troubled facilities.
Altamont Care Community

4:34Coronavirus outbreak: Premier Ford announces Ontario to take over 5 more long-term care homes – May 27, 2020 https://globalnews.ca/news/6998665/long-term-care-homes-ownership-coronavirus/

Altamont Care Community, located in Scarborough, where 52 people have died from COVID-19, is owned by Sienna Senior Living, among the largest for-profit, long-term care providers in Canada.

The company owns 37 long-term care facilities and another 27 retirement residences in Ontario. It owns another 19 long-term care and retirement residences in British Columbia.

Sienna Living made a $7.5-million profit in 2019, down from a $21.8-million profit in 2017, according to the company’s financial records.

In a military report, Brig. Gen. Conrad Mialkowski alleged most residents at Altamont were not getting three meals a day due to “significant staffing issues” and that there was “poor nutritional status due to underfeeding.”

https://globalnews.ca/news/6998665/long-term-care-homes-ownership-coronavirus/

Military alleges abuse, neglect at five Ontario long-term care homes

Families outraged after report alleges horrible conditions in Ontario long-term care homes

Doug Ford reacts to ‘horrific’ military report on five Ontario long-term care homes

Next Video

Military personnel also reported that residents had pressure ulcers due to prolonged bed rest, in some cases for weeks.

“No evidence of residents being moved to wheelchair for parts of day, repositioned in bed, or washed properly,” the report read.

The company declined to answer questions about its financial reports but said it was working to make sure the issues identified by the Canadian Forces “are all dealt with immediately and permanently.”

“To deliver the level of care that our seniors deserve, the staffing challenges we face in the long-term care sector must be addressed,” the company said in a statement. “We are committed to working with the government, and our health system partners, to solve this urgent issue.

“As the report notes, we have already increased staffing levels and flattened the infection curve.”

Orchard Villa

Families are calling for an inquiry into Orchard VillaFamilies are calling for an inquiry into Orchard Villa – May 1, 2020

Orchard Villa, a 308-bed facility in Pickering, is owned by Southbridge Care Homes and has been clobbered by the pandemic, with 77 deaths and at least 96 staff and 225 residents testing positive for novel coronavirus.

Families have called for a police investigation into Orchard Villa, and have alleged neglect, malnourishment and failure to adhere to infection prevention protocols.

Southbridge owns 37 long-term care homes across the province, including Country Village Homes near Windsor, where there have been 18 deaths. Southbridge is a limited partnership and doesn’t disclose its financial reports.

Orchard Villa is managed by Extendicare, which owns or runs more than 110 homes and retirement residences across the country.

According to Extendicare’s financial reports, the company reported a profit of $28.6 million on revenue of $1.13 billion in 2019, compared with a profit of $31.7 million on revenue of $1.12 billion the year before.

READ MORE: Family surprised to find apparent details of mother’s death in military nursing home report

Southbridge and Extendicare did not respond to requests for comment.

A $40-million proposed class-action suit was filed against Orchard Villa this week alleging negligence. The home has not yet responded to the civil action, filed in the Ontario court.

Military personnel reported seeing “cockroaches and flies at the Pickering facility, while patients were “left in beds soiled in diapers.”

“Respecting dignity of patients not always a priority. Caregiver burnout noted among staff,” said the report, which also ranked infection prevention practices as “poor.”


READ MORE: Ontario NDP leader calls for long-term care minister’s resignation after disturbing report

June Bendell died at Orchard Villa three weeks ago, after she choked while she was being fed a nutritional drink.

Her children were told the death was deemed accidental, but said they were surprised to hear what appeared to be a different version of events from the Canadian Armed Forces.

“Now we heard she was lying on her back, and they recognized it as being an issue. And it is an issue,” Fred Bendell told Global News in an interview.

“She was handled poorly.”


June Bendell (right) and her husband Harry would visit nursing homes every Christmas dressed as Mr. and Mrs. Claus. Family Handout

Military personnel sent to Orchard Villa to control a COVID-19 outbreak had found that staff were not always sitting residents upright before feeding them, according to the military report released Tuesday.

The report also alleged the high-risk practice may have contributed to the death of a resident who had choked when a nursing home worker fed her “while supine.”
Eatonville and Hawthorne Place

Coronavirus outbreak: Ford calls military report on Ontario long-term care homes “gut-wrenching” – May 26, 2020

North York’s Hawthorne Place Care Centre, the scene of 46 deaths, and Eatonville Care Centre in Etobicoke, where 42 people died, are operated by Rykka Care Centres, an operating partner of Responsive Management Inc., based in Markham, Ont.

The company is privately held doesn’t publicly report its financial returns.

The company also runs Anson Place Care Centre in Hagersville, which has recorded 27 deaths so far.

At Hawthorne nursing home, the military alleged numerous instances of apparent patient neglect and that “little to no disinfection” had been conducted amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

CAF members noted an infestation of ants and cockroaches and that some staff “delayed changing soiled residents leading to skin breakdown.” Workers were also “afraid for their jobs” and there was not enough personal protective equipment to keep staff safe, the report said.

READ MORE: Ontario Superior Court orders 4 long-term care homes to equip nurses with protective equipment

Meanwhile, at Eatonville Care Centre in Etobicoke, the military said residents who tested positive for COVID-19 were allowed to wander the facility, putting everyone “at risk of being exposed” and passing the virus “throughout the home.”

The report said there was a “general culture of fear” at the home among personal support workers who were worried about using costly supplies like wipes, gloves and dressing gowns.

There were also allegations about the reuse of hypodermoclysis supplies, including catheters, even after their sterility had been compromised, the report said.

“Generally very poor peri-catheterization reported. Example: retracting penis foreskin to clean isn’t happening on a widespread level,” the report said, noting the CAF members found nearly a dozen cases of bleeding fungal infections.

The company said in a statement that it was working to address the issues raised by the military and is “initiating a third-party independent review of all the CAF’s findings”

“Most of the homes that we manage have been successful at keeping COVID-19 at bay,” said Linda Calabrese, vice-president of operations with Responsive Management Inc.

“We will not rest until our residents and their families have confidence that residents are getting the best care possible. When complete, we will share this review with the Government of Ontario, the Government and Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces.”
Holland Christian Homes

Coronavirus: Military personnel raise concerns over conditions at Ontario long-term care homes – May 26, 2020

Holland Christian Homes, which runs Grace Manor where 11 people have died, is the only not-for-profit home amongst the five listed in the report

The military alleged staff there moved from a COVID-19-positive unit to other units without changing protective gear, wearing the same pairs of gloves as they moved between patients and not washing their hands often enough.

They also flagged leaving food in a patient’s mouth while the person was sleeping, “aggressively repositioning a resident,” and not assisting residents during meals, noting that in some cases, staff would rather write that the resident had refused the meal than help them eat.

READ MORE: What’s Canada’s true coronavirus death toll? Here’s why it’s hard to say

Ken Rawlins, CEO of Holland Christian, said the situation at the home has stabilized and the military feels it can redeploy elsewhere.

“Like others, including our political leaders, we were shocked and dismayed at some of the conditions identified in this report,” he said.

“It is our goal, as it is of all involved, to ensure the highest standards of care and treatment of all residents entrusted to our care by their families.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Holland Christian has since made changes and will not be taken over following the release of the military report, but will still receive provincial inspections.

Ford said the province is dispatching six teams of two inspectors to each of the five homes.

“We need boots on the ground. I want eyes and ears in the homes that we’re most worried about keeping close watch,” he said.

“We are fully prepared to take over more homes if necessary. We are fully prepared to pull licences, to shut down facilities, if it is necessary. We will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes.”

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
Andrew.Russell@globalnews.ca

‘Staff are in shock’: Documents reveal chaos inside Ontario nursing home during COVID-19 outbreak
Stewart Bell and Andrew Russell 

At 9:29 a.m. on March 17, a nurse identified in records as Yan Anonymous phoned York Region Public Health to report that six residents at the Markhaven Home for Seniors were sick.© Provided by Global News Image taken outside Marhaven long-term care home in Markham, Ont.

Three days later, swab tests confirmed the worst: the COVID-19 pandemic that was circling the globe had entered the Ontario nursing home amid fears it would “spread as a wildfire.”

And it did.

For two months, the home faced an outbreak its executive director described in a confidential email to health officials as “unprecedented, extremely time-consuming, chaotic and stressful.”

Markhaven wasn’t Canada’s worst-hit nursing home. Nor was it unique. It experienced generally the same problems that plagued a long-term care system ill-prepared for a pandemic.

The nursing home's management declined to comment, saying only that they had "strictly followed the guidelines mandated by health authorities."

York Region Public Health and Ontario’s Minister of Long-Term Care also declined interview requests, but a Global News investigation based on public health records and interviews shows what happened.

Supplies of PPE, or personal protective equipment, were a key challenge, according to records and emails obtained through a freedom of information request. Early in the outbreak, Markhaven staff wore plastic garbage bags and white painting suits, while goggles were washed out and re-used. PPE was kept in a locked room, a worker said.

Staffing was another problem. As employees tested positive for COVID-19 or stayed home, the home complained to health officials it was “dealing with staff abandoning their posts” and “fighting tooth and nail to keep staff in the building.”

Video: Family member describes emotional toll of COVID-19 outbreak at Ontario nursing home

The documents also reveal tensions between the home’s management and local public health authorities, who struggled to get contact tracing information from the home — and faced criticism from Markhaven that they were not providing enough support.

“We’re regularly having to make critical decisions with very little guidance from authoritative bodies, and we’re doing so with dwindling resources (staff and PPEs),” the home’s executive director Mike Bakewell wrote to health officials.

Two weeks in, the home sounded like it was on the verge of surrender, telling health authorities they "will shut the facility down and transfer the patients out,” according to the notes taken of the call by a public health officer.

By March 29, the home was “requesting more death certificates.” Sadly, they would need them. The worst-hit unit, 2 South, became known among staff as Death Valley.

While nearby nursing homes did not lose a single resident to the virus, 56 Markhaven residents and staff tested positive for COVID-19, and 17 died.

"The picture that the documents paint really is a system which was totally unprepared for the pandemic," said Jane Meadus, a lawyer who specializes in long-term care.

What happened at Markhaven?

Read more: Coronavirus: Ontario’s worst hit nursing homes and who owns them
March 17: Outbreak number '2270-2020-082'

Chloe Efthyvoulos took care of her mother at home, but a health setback of her own, a fall that broke her ankle, made her realize she couldn’t do it anymore.

She was pleased when she found the Markhaven Home for Seniors, a 96-bed long-term care home that backs onto wooded Paramount Park in Markham, Ont. It wasn’t too big, and she liked the staff.


“I thought this would be a good place,” Efthyvoulos said.

Run by Markhaven Inc., a charity since 1967, the home received $5.5-million from the Ontario government in 2019, the province said.

Over the years, health inspectors have cited the home 19 times for failing to meet requirements under the Long-Term Care Homes Act, according to the province. In 2017, the last time a comprehensive resident quality inspection report was completed, the home was found to have 19 non-compliance incidents compared to the provincial average of 5.66.

As recently as January, it was found to have failed to comply with infection control and prevention measures.

Markhaven had 60 full-time and 75 part-time staff in 2018, its tax return says. But it had no assistant director of care when the outbreak hit, according to York Region health records that quoted a manager as saying the employee “was fired five months ago due to financial concerns for the facility.”

Efthyvoulos thought the home could have used more staff, but she was content with the care her mother received. The workers loved her mother, and she found the home clean when she visited.

The COVID-19 pandemic was still building steam in Canada on March 12 when a Markhaven resident came down with a cough and fever.

Health records show a second resident developed the same symptoms on March 13, and a third on March 15. On March 16, a fourth resident was coughing and congested.

According to public records, by March 17, the day the home contacted York Region Public Health, six residents and three staff had a mix of coughs, fever, congestion and runny nose.

York Health declared a respiratory outbreak at the facility. It was labelled outbreak 2270-2020-082.

Health officers scheduled an outbreak management team meeting and arranged a courier to pick up swab samples from two residents.

The union representing Markhaven staff questioned why, according to the records, the home waited so long before reporting that residents and staff were sick with COVID-like symptoms, saying that during that time staff were going into rooms unprotected.
March 20: First resident tests positive

Video: COVID-19 left nursing homes patients to die in isolation, family member says

On March 20, the Ontario health lab phoned York Region Public Health with the results of a swab test conducted on a Markhaven resident, a 74-year-old woman who had been showing symptoms since March 15.

“Please contact the home and advise them of the result,” Carlos Sebastian, the manager of infectious disease control at York region health, wrote in an email sent at 10:58 a.m.

Forty-five minutes later, the public health unit phoned Markhaven and the home's director of care, Kevin McKay, listened on speakerphone with executive director Mike Bakewell.

“Told him resident is positive for COVID-19,” the record of the call reads.

The health officers wanted to know who may have brought the virus into the home, and who else had been exposed to it. They asked Markhaven for a copy of its visitor sign-in sheets, going back to early March.

They needed to know who had visited the home, and in particular, who had visited the resident with COVID-19.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/staff-are-in-shock-documents-reveal-chaos-inside-ontario-nursing-home-during-covid-19-outbreak/ar-BB1b0wjN?ocid=msedgntp
Video: 10 deaths, dozens of COVID-19 cases at South Terrace long-term care facility in Edmonton (Global News) 

They had other questions as well. Had the staff worn PPE when they collected the swab from the resident with the virus? Did any Markhaven staff work at other care homes? Had any travelled in the past two weeks? Had the roommate of the resident who tested positive been swabbed?

A conference call was scheduled for 2:30 p.m. The home wanted to discuss “PPE, staffing pressures, [and] the guidance we are providing re COVID.” The associate medical health officer, Alanna Fitzgerald-Husek, said she would try to join but wrote in an email that “capacity is a bit thin here.”


“They need resources to be sent to them ASAP,” the York health records read, adding the “facility needs PPE as expects to increase number of cases … They want to have extra PPEs as they suspect this will spread as a wildfire.”

On the conference call were two York region infectious disease control managers, two public health inspectors, Fitzgerald-Husek, and Markhaven's management. The proper use of PPE came up. According to notes of a public health official, the home was wiping down goggles with disinfectant and using them again, a practice described in the public health documents as “problematic,” while the union representing Markhaven workers said re-using PPE was "absolutely not acceptable."

Meanwhile, the home was dealing with nervous staff and wanted public health officers to come to speak to staff who were refusing to work.

“It is going to be difficult to reassure the staff and convinced [sic] them to come back. … They don’t know how many will leave as staff are still in shock,” according to health records.

There was also a discussion about private staffing agencies and possibly using them to bolster the workforce during the outbreak. The home ultimately did use at least two staffing agencies.

At 7:45 that night, Markhaven’s executive director sent an email to residents’ families notifying them the pandemic was in the home.

“The health and safety of all residents and staff is our number one priority and we will continue to monitor the situation closely,” he wrote.

Read more: Class action to be launched against Ontario alleging negligence in long-term care oversight


March 21: ‘We simply do not have the resources’

Efthyvoulos was terrified when she found out a resident had tested positive for COVID-19, but there wasn’t much she could do.

Visits were suspended due to the outbreak, and because her mother was on the second floor, even window visits were out of the question.

“They’d just tell me, ‘no she’s doing fine, she’s OK, she’s coping,’ but I don’t know,” she said.

Born in what was then Rhodesia, her mother, Loulou Travlos, had immigrated to Canada in 2005 to be closer to her family.

“She knitted all day, knitted baby blankets for her great-grandchildren,” her daughter said.


“She was a family person, always cooking for them, making treats for them.”

Although she couldn’t see her mother, Efthyvoulos was confident Travlos was in good hands at Markhaven. “I thought they were well-equipped,” she said.

The resident who had tested positive was isolated in her room, and her roommate was moved to a private room. But health officials were still worried the virus could spread, and the roommate had developed a cough.

York Region health officials held a debriefing and scheduled another conference call with Markhaven management to go over the questions they needed answered, according to the public records.

The first concerned the home’s PPE supplies. The home said it had opened its “pandemic box,” and thought it had enough to last two weeks, “depending on the severity of this outbreak.”

But while there was a “large abundance” of gloves, the home “requested more surgical masks and gowns if possible,” according to the public health records.

As they had the day before, the health officers told the home they needed a list of everyone who had been in contact with the resident who had tested positive for COVID-19.

According to health department records, the director of care responded that he “can send us a list, but manpower is the concern here. There is only him alone, no office/admin staff.”

“Suggested the earliest is Monday.”

But that was two days away and Selina Nazim, the region’s COVID manager, explained that she needed the list in order to consult with Public Health Ontario about “next steps,” the records show.

The director of care, McKay, “stated that he doesn’t get paid to come in, this is an independent home,” according to the call notes.

Providing a list of visitors was “a big challenge,” the notes of the call with the care director indicate. “They only have the physical copy of the sign-in sheet from the front door [and] he is not able to differentiate who visited where,” according to the call notes.

As an alternative, it was suggested that York Region Public Health (YRPH) officials come to the home and view security camera footage to identify visitors. The video totalled 500 hours, per camera angle.


“YRPH expressed the priority is to send YRPH the staff and visitor list,” the notes read.

“Kevin stated that the conversation so far with YRPH has not been helpful to him. There is only one him trying to do damage control and he is unable to complete YRPH’s request.”

“He stated that he has been on the phone with YRPH for 1.5 hours and YRPH is not helpful to him. Kevin wished writer [the public health officer who wrote the entry] and Selina a nice day and hung up.”

Health officials talked it over and called the care director back an hour later to say they appreciated he was “strapped” but again “stressed the importance of getting a list of staff who’d had contact with the resident who had COVID-19.

As part of its investigation, York Health also needed to know where and when Markhaven staff had travelled, whether they had been in contact with anyone who had travelled, and if they worked at any other facilities.

“We are interested to know about the movement of staff between Mar. 1 and Mar. 15 where they may have transmit [sic] illness to the confirmed case,” an internal memo read.

But at 3:08 p.m., Markhaven executive director Bakewell fired back in an email to York Region’s managers of infectious disease control. It was copied to the nursing home’s board chair.

“I have to voice some concerns I have with the level of support we’re receiving from Public Health,” he wrote.

The email said Markhaven’s director of care had spent a long time on the phone “dealing with the investigation into how the virus entered the home.”

“Your staff were insistent that he stop the critical work that he’s doing to go through weeks of visitor sign-in sheets and weeks’ worth of video footage to determine which family members of the resident in question have visited since March 1.”

“I have instructed him to continue the essential work he is doing,” the executive director wrote. “We simply do not have the resources to be conducting [an] investigation of this scope under our current situation,” the email said.

He went on to complain the home had not received “definitive guidance” about what to tell staff who also held jobs at other facilities. He said other homes were telling staff members not to return to work at Markhaven, exacerbating the home’s staffing shortage.

“This obviously concerns me greatly as we are having difficulties getting staff to work in our home, but also because this seems entirely counterintuitive in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 into other LTC [Long-Term Care] homes in the community,” he wrote.

He went on to say that York public health officials had initially said they did not have any PPE supplies, but later said they did — a mixed message he called “alarming.” He said he was also getting conflicting information about whether N95 masks were needed.

“We’re fighting tooth and nail to keep staff in the building, and we will only be able to do that if we are able to give them reliable information. So far we don’t feel we’ve been getting that from Public Health,” the email said.

At 6:30 p.m., York health officials spoke again to the home’s management, saying their priority was “determining acquisition and transmission,” according to notes of the meeting.

“Additional precautions have to be put in place,” added Sebastian, the York Health manager of infectious disease control. “Residents have to stay in their rooms as much as possible. The less contact that residents have with one another, the more protected residents are.”

Everyone working in the home “is going to be wearing a mask,” he continued, adding there should be “avid handwashing.”

York health said it would provide a “reasonable supply” of PPE, as well as training. Why staff weren’t already trained to deal with an outbreak was not addressed in the public health records.

Read more: ‘We still have an acute staffing shortage,’ Ontario’s long-term care commission hears

March 22: Staffing crisis

While Markhaven residents were supposed to be confined to their rooms, there was a problem: some were “wanderers,” according to York region health records.

The home said it was working to restrain them.

Two York Health staff went to the facility at 2 p.m. to train the staff. In an email later that day, Markhaven’s executive director called it “a great session” but said he still had “concerns.”

He repeated that while Markhaven staff had been told they were prohibited from working elsewhere, other facilities were not giving the same message. “We need consistent messaging to all parties.”

In addition, he said York health had provided a “new/changed message” about whether N95 masks were necessary. “I’m sure you can imagine staff confidence in us is dwindling rapidly at this point.”

Sebastian put one of those issues to rest. At 10 p.m. he told health officers to contact six Markhaven staff who worked at other facilities and tell them they were not to work until further notice.

The email Markhaven sent to families that night made no reference to the staffing crisis. Rather, it said the home was “finalizing an agreement with a community partner” about additional staff and “supply chains for PPEs” had also been secured.

"As some of you may be aware, on March 14 we saw the first case of a small number of our residents in a variety of home areas who began to exhibit differing symptoms of either cold or flu. "Because the symptoms were inconsistent, it didn’t strictly meet the definition of an outbreak," it said.

"Out of an abundance of caution, and in light of the current reality, we contacted Public Health. Also out of an abundance of caution, PH decided to declare a respiratory outbreak on March 17. "

"On March 20 PH contacted the home to say that one of these residents had tested positive for COVID-19. Although we still have just one positive case in the home, PH decided yesterday that changing the outbreak from a respiratory outbreak to a COVID-19 outbreak would give us additional tools to fight the spread of the virus."

Families would be contacted "if there is any update on your particular loved one," it said.

Celebrating Diwali, festival of lights, amid so much darkness 

THE ARYAN FESTIVAL OF THE SWASTIKA

Michelle Ghoussoub 

Diwali is the South Asian celebration of light over darkness, of good over evil. And in a normal year, celebrations in Vancouver alone can draw crowds of 7,000 to 10,000 people.

Like so many things during a pandemic, the festival celebrated this year on Saturday, Nov. 14, will look different.

Festival creative director Kriti Devan says, back in the summer, organizers toyed with the idea of physically distanced events. But as they saw the number of COVID-19 cases tick upwards, they pre-emptively pulled the plug on any kind of in-person celebration, focusing their efforts on creating a virtual experience.

And now, Devan says, her team is grateful for the foresight. Two of B.C.'s health authorities — Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health — are facing the province's strictest pandemic restrictions since the spring.

Cases have surged to alarming levels, particularly in the Fraser Health region. People are being told not to gather with anyone outside of their own household, and to avoid all non-essential travel in and out of the health authorities.

"Safety is first and foremost," said Devan "We still want to educate, inspire, and share the light."

Culturally sensitive messaging

Festivals and informal celebrations across Canada are adapting. In Edmonton, a gurdwara that is expecting around 2,000 people is urging worshippers to wear masks, and will only let 15 people into the prayer hall at a time.

Sukhmeet Singh Sachal, a 26-year-old second-year medical student at UBC, is among those promoting the message to "spread lightness, not COVID-19" during Diwali.

He said back in the summer he noticed that, at his gurdwara in Surrey, few elders were masked, making him wonder whether B.C.'s public health messaging was accessible enough to those for whom the information could be life-saving.

"If you think about the Punjabi community, a lot of the elders don't speak English, and that's a concern because if you don't know the language of the information coming to you, you're not going to be able to understand it," he said.

That prompted Sachal to start the COVID-19 Sikh Gurdwara Initiative. With help from the Clinton Foundation, the organization creates messaging targeted toward Punjabi communities, including signs translating public health messages and a six-foot-long cardboard cutout mimicking the actual length of a turban to demonstrate physical distancing.

"That's where we came in, we're taking the language and translating it into Punjabi, but more so in a culturally relevant way," he said.

"I think people are now starting to take it more seriously, especially with cases increasing significantly in the Fraser Health region. I think people are now going okay, we need to stop this before it becomes even more of a problem."

Devan said the cancellation of in-person events is for some a tough pill to swallow, especially after a summer and early fall in which some aspects of life returned to normal. But organizers took cues from epic Bollywood films, asking performers and artists to film their performances in the outdoors and share them globally.

"There have been obviously mixed reactions to it, people are disappointed that they can't come together with family and friends like they normally do," she said.

"But at the same time a lot of people are encouraging others to have celebrations at home — Diwali dance parties online, virtual poetry readings — to keep that sense of community."

© Dan McGarvey/CBC 

Diwali is the South Asian celebration of light, featuring music, dance and food. Festivals can draw thousands of people over several days.

She said Diwali fashion has also been taken to "another level" this year, with designers creating masks to match Diwali outfits, some retailing for hundreds of dollars.

Sachal said the creativity — from Diwali masks to virtual celebrations — show the significance the celebration takes on, and the extent to which people try to do the right thing when health messaging reaches every community.

"People are trying to adapt to things constantly. I think that's why it's so important to spread the message stay home to Diwali and celebrate that way, because again, Diwali is all about spreading light, not darkness."

Both Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health have listed Diwali-specific recommendations. These include:

Only celebrating with people you live with in your home. Do not invite guests.

Connect virtually with extended family. Say no to invitations.

Wear a mask when shopping for gifts, decorations, food.

Join live-streamed prayers instead of visiting the temple in person and light the Divaa or Diya at home.

Share food safely. If you are preparing festive meals for your household, use individual 

servings, and place sweets and appetizers on separate plates for each person.