Ontario adding new restrictions to long-term care homes due to Omicron spike

Ontario is adding new restrictions to long-term care homes, including banning access to general visitors and day absences for residents for social purposes.

The temporary measures will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 30, the government says.

Under the new restrictions, access to long-term care homes by general visitors will be paused, but two designated caregivers per person may continue to enter long-term care homes.

Day absences for all residents for social purposes will also be paused, the government said. 

"There are 45,000 caregivers across the province. Those are the people who are day-to-day most frequently into homes and we are ensuring that they can still have access," Minister of Long-Term Care Rod Phillips said Tuesday.

Phillis said allowing caregivers to still enter long-term care homes is a fundamentally different approach to the previous waves of COVID-19 that ensures "vital connections to family and friends are still available."

The government said it will closely monitor long-term care homes and continue to adjust measures "as necessary to keep residents and staff safe."

Phillips says 41 long-term care homes are currently experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks, up from 37 on Monday.

He says 84 per cent of eligible residents and 43 per cent of eligible workers had received COVID-19 vaccine booster doses as of last week.