As COVID-19 cases continue to rise at an alarming rate, a State of Emergency and Provincewide Stay-at-Home Order are in effect as of Thursday, April 8 at 12:01 a.m. This puts in place shutdown measures to help to stop the rapid transmission of COVID-19 variants in communities, protect hospital capacity and save lives. Visit the Current Level page for more details.
For long-term care homes that are in outbreak, or homes that are located in public health unit regions that are in the "Orange - Restrict", "Red - Control" or "Grey - Lockdown" level, as well as during the Provincewide Stay-at-Home Order:
- Essential visitors are permitted to visit, including a maximum of one caregiver per resident at a time
- No general visitors are permitted.
For more information visit: COVID-19: Long-term Care homes in areas with visitor restrictions.
Visits at Long-Term Care and Retirement Homes
The Ontario government is allowing visits to long-term care homes, retirement homes, and other residential care settings. All visits in all settings will be subject to strict health and safety protocols - see below for general information and links to further details. Please contact the home you will be visiting to confirm their protocols. Do not visit your loved one if you are not feeling well.
Long-term care and retirement homes, as well as other residential care settings, must meet the following conditions before they welcome visitors:
- Homes must not be in outbreak.
- Homes must have an established process for communicating visitor protocols and the associated safety procedures.
- Homes must maintain the highest infection prevention and control standards.
In the event of an outbreak at an individual home or residential care setting, non-essential visits will be restricted.
If you are required to book an appointment for a COVID-19 test, please contact the Assessment Centre nearest you or Telehealth Ontario at 1-866-797-0000.
Long-Term Care Homes
Visitor restrictions apply to those homes in public health unit regions that are in the “Orange-Restrict” level or higher, including the Provincewide Shutdown. In addition, long-term care homes must implement enhanced testing requirements.
TBDHU is currently under the Provincewide Shutdown.
Long-term care homes will transition to point-of-care rapid antigen tests for staff, student placements and volunteers, as well as caregivers, support workers and general visitors (where permitted entry), starting February 16, 2021 in the TBDHU region. Further details can be found in the January 27, 2021 Letter from the Ministry of Long-Term Care. Please contact the home you will be visiting to confirm their protocols.
For details on visiting, see the COVID-19: Visiting Long-Term Care Homes page.
Retirement Homes
For details on visiting, see the Retirement Home COVID-19 Visiting Policy.
Testing