In alignment with the province’s emphasis on improving access to testing, and continued efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 in long term care homes, HPEPH will be taking the following steps if an outbreak of the virus is declared in any local long-term care or retirement facility:
- Test any residents with symptoms
- Test close contacts of any positive cases – even if asymptomatic
- Consider testing of all residents in floor/wing/living area – if appropriate
- Consider facility wide testing – if appropriate
This step-wise approach ensures local testing resources are used as effectively as possible, by ensuring that individuals who are most at risk for exposure to COVID-19 have prompt access to testing, and the system maintains the capacity to process tests and provide results quickly and efficiently. HPEPH will also be launching a new online reporting tool early this week, which will identify how many confirmed and probable cases in the region are associated with residents or staff of long-term care homes.
Any local long-term care homes or other health care facilities that are declared as being in outbreak for COVID-19 are posted on HPEPH’s Facility Outbreak page. Additional information about COVID-19 is available at hpePublicHealth.ca. Any individuals who still have questions or concerns after reviewing the website are invited to contact the HPEPH COVID-19 information line at 613-966-5500 or 1-800-267-2803. The information line is open weekdays 8:30 am – 6:30 pm, and weekends 8:30 am – 4:30 pm.
Visit Ontario’s website to learn more about how the province continues to protect Ontarians from COVID-19.
