B.C. will allow people to visit loved ones in long-term care homes after it was restricted back in March to limit the spread of COVID-19 in care homes in Kamloops and across the province.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says there will be one visitor per resident allowed to begin with, adding these visits will happen in facilities that aren’t experiencing active outbreaks.
For many families, it will be the first in-person time together since visits were restricted in March.
“There have been many dark and anxious days, but today is a brighter day for us all. So visits in individual facilities will resume once each facility has developed their required safety plan and has that in place,” she said.
“We are going to start slowly, and as we expect things will progress well, we’ll expand these activities.”
Henry says if a care home experiences a new outbreak, all visits will be prohibited. She notes visitors will need to bring and wear a mask while visiting their loved ones.
“Residents will be able to have a single designated visitor in the appropriate designated spaces, and they will be both indoor and outdoor spaces, and in some cases, in single rooms,” Henry said. “Visits will also need to be booked in advance to ensure that the spaces are appropriate and that visitors can be spaced out through the day.”
In addition, the province says personal service providers like hairdressers will be allowed into long-term care and assisted living facilities if they have completed a WorkSafeBC safety plan.
The Province is also earmarking more than $160 million for these facilities – both private and public – to hire up to three full-time equivalent staff. It could mean as many as 2,040 additional staff across 680 long term care and assisted living facilities to ensure COVID-19 infection prevention and control measures are followed during these visits.
A further $26.5 million is being provided for facilities to address costs incurred between March 1 and June 30 on things like additional screening, and making changes to services like meal delivery to rooms or staggered meal times to ensure physical distancing, as well as additional housekeeping and enhanced cleaning.
Anyone who is not feeling well should reschedule any upcoming visits, Henry says, noting the province plans to review this proposal on a monthly basis.