TORONTO — Residents of Ontario long-term care homes can visit outdoors with friends and family starting this weekend, the province announced Friday after advocates called for the change to safely reunite isolated seniors with their loved ones.
The associate deputy minister of long-term care announced the policy change in a memo to licensees.
"This is a truly important step for residents and their families, and I know despite the rapid notice, our home partners supported outdoor visits last summer and will be adept at making this a success,'' Erin Hannah wrote.
Hannah said the change was being made to align with loosening provincial rules around outdoor activities that were set to go into effect at midnight on Saturday.
I know you have been planning for this already with the onset of spring and the warmer weather and the impassioned calls from residents and their families to enable them to see one another outside,'' the memo said.
Advocates and family members had been calling for the strict rules to change in light of high vaccination rates in the homes, which were devastated by thousands of infections and deaths during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.
—The Canadian Press.