LONDON, ONT. -- As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to grow, so do concerns over long-term care homes, especially ahead of the holidays.
The Ontario government announced new restrictions on visitors at long-term care homes in regions with higher levels of COVID-19 infections.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford did not confirm precisely which regions far under the restrictions, but did say it will include the Toronto and Ottawa areas.
Questions are now being brought forward as to whether care homes in London will be included in these new restrictions with Thanksgiving, a time for seeing loved ones, only days away.
The NDP MPP for London-Fanshawe, Teresa Armstrong, says the government is not doing its due-diligence to prevent the need for further lockdown protocols.
And that could prevent people safely visiting their loved ones during the holidays.
“Having the PPE (personal protective equipment), having those protocols in place, having the right amount of staff…those things could have been a better outcome ahead of the holidays,” says Armstrong.
Armstrong adds that the government could have prepared for the second wave of COVID before it hit.
“I fear what will happen...is people will be caught holding the bag because of the lack of planning this government didn’t do around long-term care."
The Ford government will still allow residents in those facilities to designate two “essential caregivers” who will be exempt from the new policy.
Ford made the announcement at Queen’s Park on Tuesday afternoon as he detailed his government’s $540 million plan to protect long-term care homes during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
