Residents at long term care homes can designate their own visitor, and can have a backup in case someone is sick or can’t come in.
“If you have two children, one of them can be your essential visitor if they’re already designated, and you can have another person come in to be your visitor,” said Dr Bonnie Henry.
Henry said that this was something suggested by the seniors advocate, and said they can come regardless of the transmission rates in the community, or whether there’s an outbreak in the facility.
“They will need to be, because we know that it’s still pretty risky, they’ll need to be vaccinated themselves, and that’s why we’re prioritizing long term care for making sure we can test people with rapid tests as well.”
She added that this is part of the balance that they’re trying to find in mitigating COVID-19 transmission, but also making sure we have social interactions and contact with our loved ones.