long-term care has exacerbated what was already a critical staffing shortage before the COVID-19 onslaught, representatives of the sector said on Thursday.The critical lack of personnel, they said, makes it difficult to use the 6,000 empty nursing home beds as a safety valve for hospitals struggling with an influx of patients. ‘It’s beyond appalling:’ Ontario long-term care residents plead for release from COVID-19 confinement In addition, about 38,500 people remain on waitlists for admission to long-term care facilities, a number expected to rise to 40,000, according to the Ontario Long Term Care Association.“Once the virus did get into the homes, what happened was the staffing models crashed,” said Donna Duncan, the association’s CEO..