A third health-care worker in Ontario has died from COVID-19, with her union blaming “ongoing failures” to provide protective equipment such as masks and face shields.

Arlene Reid, 51, was a personal support worker in home care for the Victorian Order of Nurses in Peel Region and also worked at a nursing home, the Service Employees International Union said Wednesday.

“Like many health-care workers, she was precariously employed,” the union said in a written statement.

“She will be missed and remembered.”

Reid’s death was reported as figures show nursing-home workers are becoming infected with COVID-19 at twice the rate of the residents they care for, according to statistics released Wednesday by the Ontario government.

Overall, there are now more than 1,100 deaths in the province, mainly the elderly, with confirmed and probable cases topping 17,000 for the first time. Almost 2,200 have been health-care workers.

Reid was the second personal support worker to die in the line of duty as the virus sweeps through long-term care and similar settings where people live in close quarters. The first was Christine Mandegarian, 54, who worked at the hard-hit Altamont Care nursing home in Scarborough. An environmental services employee worker at Brampton Civic Hospital died earlier this month.

The daily tally of active COVID-19 cases in long-term-care home staff jumped 13 per cent or 156 workers, compared with a rise of 5.6 per cent or 141 in cases involving residents, the Ministry of Long-Term Care said.

Unions representing nursing home employees have repeatedly complained about a shortage of masks, face shields and other personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff who work closely with frail elderly and vulnerable residents, helping groom, dress, feed and bathe them in addition to meeting medical needs.

“From day one of this emergency, health and safety protections, PPE protocols, and government directives have insufficiently protected PSWs from ongoing threats, whether they work in home care, long-term care or hospitals,” the SEIU said.

“We will continue to demand greater protections.”

Premier Doug Ford insisted earlier this week that “we do have enough PPE” and has advised nursing homes running short to contact the government for deliveries within 24 hours.

There were 2,632 nursing home residents and 1,361 staff with active cases of the new coronavirus. The employees account for about two-thirds of all health-care workers who have tested positive for COVID-19.

Another 70 nursing home residents have died, an increase of just under 10 per cent from the previous day and lifting the total to 775 deaths, the Ministry of Long-Term Care said. Those fatalities account for 78 per cent of the official provincial total.

Retirement homes are also being hit, with outbreaks at 61 facilities to date causing 117 deaths and cases in 593 residents and 263 staff, Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario’s associate medical officer, said Wednesday.

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The number of patients hospitalized with the virus continued to increase, the Ministry of Health reported, rising by 20 in the previous day to a total of 977 with 235 in intensive care and 186 of them on ventilators.

Just over a week ago, Ontario had about 800 patients in hospital and the increase has largely been attributed to more nursing-home residents with COVID-19 being sent for more involved care.

Overall, confirmed and probable cases of the virus in Ontario rose by 469 or 2.8 per cent as of Wednesday at 5 p.m. to a total of 17,067 since the outbreak began in late January, according to a Star tally from public health units across the province in the previous 24 hours.

Deaths rose by 83 to 1,132 in the same period.

The government said 9,612 people who contracted the novel coronavirus have recovered.