‘We have to be so, so careful’: B.C. not easing rules around long-term care visits

B.C.’s top doctor signalled that restrictions on visits to long-term care homes due to the COVID-19 pandemic won’t be easing any time soon.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Thursday that there are many challenges that need to be overcome before more visitors can be allowed in care homes.

2:02 B.C. Seniors Advocate wants more visitor access for long-term care residents

“We have to be so, so careful because outbreaks can spread so rapidly in care homes and it’s not just me and my loved one that I need to be concerned about, but it’s everybody in that setting,” she said.

Henry said the rise in coronavirus transmission, particularly in the Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health regions, is having an impact on long-term care.

“In most cases, (COVID-19) is transmitted to those that we are closest to, whether it’s in our family, whether it’s a group of people that we spend time with or whether it’s in our workplace,” she said. “What we are seeing now is that this can have a very large ripple effect. It’s having a ripple effect, unfortunately, in long-term care homes and we’re starting to see outbreaks again that are moving through long-term care homes.”

The comments came in the wake of a report from B.C.’s advocate for seniors that found many long-term care residents are now more worried about seeing their loved ones than they are about contracting COVID-19.

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Henry said there are now 30 outbreaks in health centres that include long-term care and assisted-living facilities. The province announced two new health-care facility outbreaks at Tabor Home and Pinegrove Place and declared an end to the outbreak at Queen’s Park Care Centre.

The province also announced 425 new cases of COVID-19, a new daily record.

3:39 425 new daily COVID-19 cases. B.C. sets another new record

A B.C. workplace health and safety group has called for mass testing in any of the province’s care homes that record a case of COVID-19.

SafeCare BC, an industry-funded non-profit advocating for B.C.’s 28,000 continuing care workers, said Wednesday that staff in such facilities are “living in fear” that they’ll bring the disease home with them.

“Instead of waiting for a resident to test positive or another staff member to test positive, we do a mass testing strategy right off the bat,” SafeCare BC CEO Jen Lyle said.

“So we’re not waiting for people to show symptoms, we’re trying to catch them earlier in the process so we can ultimately minimize the size of an outbreak when it happens.”

— With files from Richard Zussman