This information is intended for a range of congregate living settings such as homeless shelters, group homes, supportive housing and other congregate living settings. As facility operators and leaders providing much-needed services, there are steps that you can take to protect the people that rely on their services and the staff and volunteers working there. This information will help your organization assess your needs and implement strategies to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission and manage cases and outbreaks of COVID-19 in your facility.
Put in place both active and passive screening measures for clients, staff and essential visitors.
Active screening involves having a designated staff person ask the screening questions at a designated entry point. Where possible, this should include no-touch temperature checks.
1-2 screeners should be placed at the entrance to screen all individuals wanting to access the facility.
Staff conducting active screening should use appropriate personal protective equipment. Staff asking questions should be behind a barrier (i.e. Plexiglass). If a barrier is not available, the screener should wear a medical mask and eye protection (e.g. face shield, goggles) and stay 2 metres away from those entering the facility.
Alcohol-based hand sanitizer should be available at the entrance and anyone entering the facility is advised to perform hand hygiene.
Passive screening involves posting signage at every entry door and throughout the facility to prompt anyone to self-identify if they feel unwell or have symptoms consistent with COVID-19.
All clients, staff and essential visitors should be actively screened daily:
Clients - prior to entry/admission and twice during the day
Staff and essential visitors - at the start and end of each shift or visit
Active screening should include reminders to self-monitor for COVID-19 symptoms and notify a designated individual if they start to feel unwell.
Where possible, screening for new admissions should be done over the phone.
Keep a record or log of individuals (staff, volunteers, essential visitors, and clients) entering your facility and where in the facility they are working or staying.
A log of all essential visitors who are given entry, with whom they visit, and/or what areas of the residence they occupy should be maintained.
Keep a line list of ill clients, staff and visitors including when they become ill, if tested for COVID-19 and if they remain at the facility or are transported elsewhere.
Note that emergency responders should be permitted entry without screening.
It is recommended that a client who answers “yes” to any of the screening questions, be isolated from the general population of the facility.
Clients with severe symptoms should be immediately transported to hospital via EMS.
See the Manage and Isolate Symptomatic Individuals section below for advice on how to manage and isolate clients who screen positive at intake or become unwell with COVID-19 symptoms while at the facility.
Instruct staff, volunteers and clients to wash their hands often, especially:
upon entering the facility
before and after touching surfaces or using common areas or equipment
before eating
before and after preparing food
before and after putting on a mask, and before and after taking off a mask or face covering
before touching the face (including before smoking)
after using the washroom
when dirty
Install additional hand washing and/or sanitizing stations and keep hand soap, hand sanitizer and paper towel dispensers filled.
Offer supervised hand hygiene for clients (e.g. have a staff member pump hand sanitizer into participants hands as they enter an area).
Generally, gloves are only recommended for health care workers. For non-health care workers, gloves are recommended when cleaning and disinfecting with products that may be absorbed through the skin.
Gloves are worn when handling dirty laundry if likely to touch items contaminated with blood or body fluid. Gowns can be added if likely to contaminate your clothing. Handle laundry gently without shaking, and in handling laundry for someone who has or is suspected to have COVID-19.
Gloves should be worn for short periods of time for a specific task. Once the task is done, gloves must be removed properly and then hand hygiene performed.
For printable posters on proper handwashing practices, visit the Hand Hygiene page under Additional Resources.
Use good cough etiquette: turn your head away from others, cover your nose and mouth with a tissue, or your sleeve when you cough or sneeze. Throw used tissues away immediately in a lined wastebasket then wash or sanitize your hands.
Display posters promoting respiratory hygiene. For printable posters on cough etiquette, visit the Cover Your Coughs page under Additional Resources.
Non-medical Masks
Non-medical masks are used to protect others by containing respiratory droplets of the wearer so that they do not spread to others. This is referred to as source control.
It’s important to wear a non-medical mask properly. Refer to How to Wear Masks Properly for instructions.
When not providing direct care or service, staff and essential visitors should wear a non-medical mask for source control at all times during their shift (except when eating, when they should stay 2 metres from others, or when alone in a private space).
Residents should be offered a non-medical mask for use if tolerated when they cannot maintain a 2 metre distance from others. Residents who come and go from the facility are encouraged to wear the non-medical mask when they may be near other residents or staff if tolerated.
Children younger than 2 years of age should not wear a mask.
When providing direct care or service to residents, staff and essential visitors should wear appropriate PPE. PPE protects the wearer from being infected by others.
PPE can include surgical/procedural mask (medical mask), eye protection (i.e. face shield, goggles, mask with visor attached), gown and gloves.
The choice of PPE is based on the type of care being provided and the health status of the resident and whether or not there is an outbreak in the facility.
Staff should be trained on the use of PPE.
Information on appropriate PPE can be found in Public Health Ontario’s documents:
Increase environmental cleaning and disinfection especially in high use/common areas and for high touch surfaces (e.g. doorknobs, light switches, phones). Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces at least twice per day and when visibly dirty. For more information see the general messages on environmental cleaning.
For waiting and dining areas, and public and staff washrooms, increase environmental disinfection routines, concentrating on high contact areas, such as toilet handles, faucets, doors, etc.
Apply cleaning and disinfection routines to vehicles used to transport clients.
Reduce the sharing of objects by having personal or single-use items on hand (e.g. harm reduction equipment, personal grooming items). Items or equipment that are shared should be thoroughly cleaned between users.
If phones are shared and cannot be appropriately disinfected, cover them with a new disposable plastic bag for each use.
Remove shared items that cannot be cleaned, such as puzzles.
Continue normal dishwashing practices. Do not share dishes, drinking glasses, cups or utensils.
Laundry precautions to take can include:
Place possibly contaminated laundry into a container with a plastic liner and do not shake.
Wash with regular laundry soap and hot water (60-90°C) and dry well.
Clothing and linens belonging to any ill person can be washed with other laundry.
Gloves should be used to handle laundry if likely to touch items contaminated with blood or bodily fluids. Gowns can be worn as an added precaution.
Towels and bedding should be changed on a regular schedule for longer stay clients.
Be careful when touching waste. All waste can go into regular garbage bins; however, no-touch garbage bins (e.g. with a foot pedal) are preferred. When emptying, be careful not to touch any used tissues with your hands. Always perform proper handwashing after emptying garbage.
Clients' sleeping items and spaces should be cleaned and disinfected between clients. Bedding should be cleaned on a regular schedule.
Cleaning should also be extended to the exterior of the facility if there is a concern that clients may come into contact with high-touch surfaces outside the building. Clear away cigarette butts and debris regularly.
Promote physical distancing in your facility. A minimum of 2 metres (6 feet) should be kept between all individuals. Remind residents and staff of physical distancing using verbal reminders and posters.
Whenever possible, make use of outdoor or larger well-ventilated spaces where people can maintain a 2 metre (6 feet) distance from each other.
Where common spaces are used, consider how to increase physical distancing in that space (e.g. staggering start/end times, decreasing room capacity, placing furnishings further apart). Mark floors to help residents and staff maintain physical distancing.
Activities/programming that require close contact should be discontinued.
Support activities that can be done with physical distancing.
In overnight shelter settings, increase distancing between beds/cots to 2 meters. Consider the use of curtains or other partitions. Arrange beds alternative head and feet. Avoid the use of bunkbeds. Use additional rooms in the facility for sleeping spaces to increase physical distancing.
Limit visitors or volunteer access to decrease in-person contacts.
Promote Safer Drug Use
Talk with harm reduction partners about the continuity of harm reduction supplies and addiction services for your clients.
Encourage clients not to share items that come into contact with the mouth or nose (e.g. drug use equipment, cigarettes).
Anyone with severe symptoms should be immediately transported to the hospital via EMS.
Staff and volunteers who screen positive or develop symptoms while at work should immediately don a medical mask, use hand sanitizer, inform their supervisor and go home immediately to self-isolate and call the nearest Assessment Centre or Telehealth Ontario at 1 (866) 797-0000.
If staff or volunteers cannot leave immediately, they should be isolated in a specific space until they are able to leave.
Put in place procedures for how clients who screen positive will be safely isolated either at the facility or at an alternate location and make arrangements for transportation (if needed), clinical assessment and testing.
If a client screens positive, instruct the client to wear a mask (if it is safe for them to wear one) and use hand sanitizer. Place the client in a separate room with a door that closes to avoid contact with others.
If a separate room is not feasible, they may be placed in an area away from others.
Staff should try to maintain physical distance (2 metres or more) while monitoring and providing assistance to these clients.
If close contact is required, staff should wear appropriate personal protective equipment (mask and gloves at a minimum). See Public Health Ontario recommendations on the use of personal protective equipment when caring for individuals with suspected or confirmed COVID-19.
Clients requiring self-isolation should have a private room and bathroom.
Put in place supports to help individuals remain in their room including meals and daily wellness checks. If strict self-isolation is not feasible, a medical mask should be provided to the client for use outside of their room and physical distancing maintained. Everyone should perform hand hygiene before and after putting on and before and after taking off masks.
If you are unable to provide isolation rooms within your facility or have a very limited number of private rooms, and an alternate isolation location has not been established, contact your public health unit to help determine how best to cohort residents within the facility.
Plan for Early Detection and Management of an Outbreak
Work with your local public health unit to put an outbreak management plan in place for detecting and managing a potential COVID-19 outbreak in your facility.
An outbreak within a congregate living setting is defined as one laboratory-confirmed case in a resident or staff. Outbreaks are declared by the local medical officer of health, or their designate.
Once an outbreak has been declared, the local public health unit will provide direction to help manage the outbreak.
