The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) says all long-term care (LTC) homes in the Saskatoon area will be required to increase visitor restrictions this week.
The change and move from the “recovery phase” to Level 1 family presence will occur at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 9.
SHA said this is due to a “substantial increase in COVID-19 transmission in Saskatoon and surrounding area, including recent exposures in (LTC) settings,” read a statement on Tuesday.
“The decision to restrict family presence is not taken lightly. These measures are only activated temporarily in order to keep residents, family members/support persons, and health-care workers safe at this time of elevated local COVID activity.”
At Level 1, each resident can designate two essential family/support persons and only one can be present at a time when indoors, according to officials. They added, for end-of-life or palliative care, more than two can be designated and two can be present at the same time.
Level 1 restrictions will be in place at the following homes:
- Central Haven Special Care Home
- Circle Drive Special Care Home
- Cudworth Nursing Home
- Extendicare Preston
- Goodwill Manor – Duck Lake
- Lakeview Pioneer Lodge – Wakaw
- Langham Care Home
- Lutheran Sunset Home
- Oliver Lodge Special Care Home
- Parkridge Centre
- Porteous Lodge
- Rosthern Mennonite Nursing Home
- Sherbrooke Community Centre
- St. Ann’s Senior Citizens’ Village
- St. Joseph’s Home
- Sunnyside Adventist Care Centre
- Saskatoon Convalescent Home
- Samaritan Place
- Spruce Manor Special Care Home – Dalmeny
- Stensrud Lodge
- Warman Mennonite Special Care Home
SHA said the levels of family presence will continue to be reviewed weekly and safety indicators will be closely monitored with the goal of returning to the recovery phase as “soon as it is safe to do so.”
The Saskatoon zone leads with 966 of Saskatchewan’s 3,184 active COVID-19 cases, according to the provincial government’s dashboard on Tuesday.