The Ontario government is putting visits on hold at long-term care homes amid a worsening fourth wave of the pandemic but will continue to grant access to designated caregivers.
Minister of Long-Term Care Rod Phillips made the announcement during a news conference on Tuesday.
He said that unlike in the first wave of the pandemic when all visitors were prohibited from entering long-term care homes, the government is taking a “fundamentally” different approach this time by allowing designated caregivers to continue to visit their loved ones so long as they are fully vaccinated.
In Ontario every long-term care resident can have up to two designated caregivers.
“We are fundamentally taking a different approach than what was taken in the past and I think there was a lot of good advice from medical professions but more importantly from families,” Phillips said. “There are 45,000 caregivers across the province. Those are the people who are day to day most frequently into homes and we are ensuring that they can still have access. That is fundamentally a different approach to make sure that those vital connections to family and friends are still available.”
Phillips said that approximately 84 per cent of long-term care residents and 43 per cent of long-term staff have already received their booster dose.
But he said that the “single biggest factor” when it comes to outbreaks in long-term care homes is the “prevalence of community spread,” making additional caution at this time appropriate.
The decision to suspend visits at long-term care homes entirely comes just two weeks after Ontario lowered the maximum number of visitors allowed to see a resident at one time to two indoors and four outdoors.
The province has also begun requiring staff, volunteers, contractors, and essential caregivers to submit to rapid testing at least two times per week.
There are currently 70 Ontario long-term care homes with active outbreaks, up from 25 at this time last week.
“The rationale behind the limitations on visits is that more people coming in from community when there is more COVID in the community inevitably will lead to more spread,” Phillips said on Tuesday.
The new restriction on general visitors at long-term care homes will take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday. The only exception will be for general visitors who are visiting someone in a palliative situation.
Day absences for all residents for social purposes are also being suspended at the same time.
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