McCormick Care Group – COVID-19 Update

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

This is a McCormick Care Group – COVID-19 Update for Tuesday, November 17, 2020.  We will continue to provide these updates twice weekly, on Mondays and Thursdays, or as needed.

There are no probable or suspected cases of COVID-19 among our residents or staff at this time.

The province released an updated COVID-19 Response Framework that categorizes public health regions into five levels: Green-Prevent, Yellow-Protect, Orange-Restrict, Red-Control, and Lockdown. The rules for visitors will vary based on the level of the local public health unit region in which a home is located. Additionally, the local public health unit may provide direction and/or restrictions on visitors to the home.

The Ministry of Long-Term Care released an updated visitor policy on November 16, 2020, as our region is currently categorized as Yellow-Protect. In addition, Dr. Alex Summers, Associate Medical Officer of Health with the Middlesex-London Health Unit, has released the below recommendations:

• Any general or non-essential visits should occur in a controlled and designated environment with facility oversight to ensure masking and physical distancing.
• In-person group events should continue to be postponed or cancelled. If they are to occur, the groups should be small, and residents must be physically distanced by at least two metres and medically masked.
• All non-essential absences will be limited. Any such absence must adhere to the parameters outlined in the ministry’s policies and FAQ.
• If a resident is off-site for a non-essential reason, they should have contact only with their essential caregivers. The caregivers and the resident should always remain masked while off-site.

As a result of these revised recommendations, we will begin implementing indoor visits for residents who wish to receive visitors outside of their two designated caregivers.  Indoor visitors must have a negative COVID-19 test every 14 days, and visits will be limited to one per week, per resident, for 30 minutes, in a designated visiting location.  Based on demand for visits, additional times may be available.

As a reminder, please submit your negative COVID-19 test results to admin.assistant@mccormickcare.ca, as this e-mail is monitored seven days a week.

Thank you.

Tanya Pol
Administrator