Tighter restrictions on long-term care visits may upend Christmas plans for families

Ottawa-area resident Diane Borris has arranged to have her husband and her five siblings and their spouses visit her father in a long-term care home this Saturday.

"And we're all excited because we're going to be all of us," said Borris, adding that grand-children and great-grandchildren are going to join virtually — some he has not seen.

But the plans may be ruined by new restrictions on visitation expected to be imposed by the province.

With COVID-19 numbers rising and concerns over the Omicron variant, the province is expected to limit visits to nursing home residents to two people per visit, according to a senior official who spoke with CBC News.

• Tougher rules coming for long-term care homes as COVID-19 cases rise, threat of omicron variant: source

Borris said this is especially disappointing since he has spent the last two Christmases alone due not only to the COVID-19 outbreak last year but also an outbreak of another illness two years ago.

Joanne LeBert of Ottawa is planning to visit her father Donat at the Extendicare home in Tecumseh along with her husband and two children.

"Not seeing everybody at the same time is going to be disappointing. He's been looking forward to it months and so have we," said LeBert. She is especially concerned if no visitation is allowed at all.

"I'm going to lose my mind if they don't allow us to see our family members," said LeBert. "And that's just inhumane. I think that's actually a denial of their basic human rights."

Sam Peck, the executive director of Family Councils of Ontario — a support organization for family members of long-term residents — says most caregivers are in favour of restrictions to ensure the safety of their loved ones but she recognizes it will be hard this time of year.

"It's going to be especially hard in long term care because it's not back to normal and it's probably not going to be any time soon until we get out of the pandemic and holidays are hard for people," said Peck.

"The vast majority of the caregivers we've spoken to acknowledge that, though not to say that they're not frustrated and upset for that, they understand that this is one of the tools in the toolbox right now."

Visitors will also be required to be vaccinated and will be subjected to testing at the homes. Non-vaccinated residents will not be able to leave their homes.