NEW: January 24, 2022- Long-Term Care Pandemic Response Guidance Updates
by Ministry of Health
Please find attached the Ministry of Health’s updated COVID-19 Guidance: Long-Term Care Homes, Retirement Homes, and Other Congregate Living Settings for Public Health Units.
The changes relevant to long-term care homes include:
- The definition of a confirmed outbreak was updated to 2 or more resident cases with a common epidemiological link within a 7-day period (changed from 10 days)
- The definition of when an outbreak is declared over was changed from 10 days to 7 days after the last case is identified if no new cases have been identified
- Clarifications were added related to precautions for non-roommate close contacts such as dining table mates, including monitoring for symptoms, masking where tolerated and physical distancing, and that residents in outbreak areas of the home be cohorted separately from non-exposed residents and residents in non-outbreak areas.
- Guidance was added enabling PHU discretion to advise pausing communal dining and activities if the home is experiencing a facility-wide outbreak where transmission is uncontrolled, the rate of increase in cases or severity is significant and the benefits of closing communal activities are greater than the harms caused to resident wellbeing.
- Guidance for the management of mixed outbreaks (e.g., influenza and COVID-19) was added.
- A recommendation for active screening for staff, students, volunteers, and essential visitors was added in Appendix A in recognition of the current higher rates transmission. However, the Ministry of Long-Term Care’s screening requirements for long-term care homes, as set out in the COVID-19 guidance document for long-term care homes in Ontario, remain unchanged