Ontario’s commissioner of public health and the chief medical officer of health are investigating if the resident’s death can be linked to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, a virus that has killed 10 people in Ontario. The resident of the Picton long-term care home died there on April 2.

“We are masking, gowning and gloving all resident care,” says Mary Lynn Lester, administrator of West Lake.

She says employees are attempting to mask residents, noting the protective clothing is extremely uncomfortable, claustrophobic and cumbersome for breathing.

While Mary Lynn received reports late yesterday afternoon the death wasn’t linked to SARS, she was still awaiting confirmation from public health.

There was cause for concern because the resident arrived at West Lake from Scarborough Grace Hospital, one of the infected hospitals, on March 17. She showed no symptoms of SARS – high fever, difficulty breathing, severe headache – for 11 days. However, on the 12th day, when she acquired a slight temperature, they moved her into isolation, Mary Lynn says.

“The doctors and public health thought it was (part of her disease),” the administrator says. However, since the resident’s death, one of her relatives exhibited symptoms of SARS.

The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care announced Monday the halting of all admissions, transfers and visitors to West Lake Terrace. However, all OMNI homes have been operating on shut-down mode since early last week as a precautionary measure. Visitor restrictions, staff screening and delivery re-routing still remain in place indefinitely.

The only other SARS scare in an OMNI home ended Friday when staff members at Willows Estate were permitted to remove the protective clothing following news a resident didn’t have the pneumonia strain.

The environment at the long-term care home was tumultuous for awhile after a resident came down with symptoms of SARS, including a temperature higher than 38 C, a sore throat, cough and nasal discharge 10 days after a visit to York Central Hospital.

Willows has been the home at the centre of concern because of its location in the Greater Toronto Area, where most of the SARS cases have surfaced so far.