B.C. to restrict visitors to long-term care as isolation requirements are revised

With the rising cases of COVID-19 in B.C., coupled with concerns for the health-care system, the province is rolling out new rules for long-term care facilities.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry told a Friday news conference that the health care system has faced new challenges in recent days as health care workers have been forced to miss work due to COVID infections.

She said the fact that active outbreaks at health-care facilities are on the rise have led the province to introduce more restrictions.

“Starting [Jan. 1, 2022], recognizing what we are seeing with transmission across the province and in our communities, we will be restricting visitors to long-term care to essential visitors only,” said Henry.

“I know this has been a place that we have been before, and we have many measures in place, but with the increase in [cases], we need to decrease the number of people coming into our long-term care homes so that we can best protect the seniors and elders in our care homes and ensure that health-care workers in those settings are able to manage and cope.”

Henry said the province will have this measure in place for “as short a period as possible,” and it will be re-evaluated on January 18, along with the other measures currently in place.

British Columbia is also reducing the self-isolation period for fully vaccinated individuals who have no symptoms or whose symptoms have subsided, from seven days to five days.

“What we’re seeing with Omicron is that the shorter incubation period means people are infectious earlier, from one to two days before their symptoms start, and that the illness tends to resolve more quickly as well,” said Henry, adding that people coming out of their self-isolation still need to take precautions to avoid further transmission.

“You need to be very careful about not going to gatherings for an additional five days, wearing a mask when you are around other people to make sure you are taking all the additional precautions to reduce that risk too.”

People whose symptoms do not subside over the first five days must continue to self-isolate until the symptoms resolve.

The self-isolation period for unvaccinated individuals remains unchanged at 10 days.

Henry noted that health care is not the only sector facing challenges with the more-transmissible Omicron variant, and encourages all employers to prepare for the need for staff to stay home if infected.

“It is important now, at this phase and with this virus that we’re seeing spreading now, that we start thinking about, how do we prepare for supporting staff who are ill to stay home and to have business continuity planning in place?’” said Henry, adding that people working from home should continue to do so, while businesses that require in-person staffing should reflect on measures taken to reduce the spread during previous waves and ensure they are still in place.