P.E.I.'s chief of nursing says visitors are now welcome at all Health P.E.I. facilities.
“Patients and clients may now select two designated visitors to see them,” said Marion Dowling during the June 2 media briefing about the state of coronavirus in P.E.I.
“Our visiting protocol also permits patients who are coming to Health P.E.I. hospitals and clinics for an appointment or procedure to select one person to accompany them for the visits.
Patients must let the service they are attending know in advance that the support person will be coming with them so that plans can be put in place to maintain physical distancing in those areas."
Surgeries are being rescheduled as well.
More than 1,100 procedures were cancelled due to the pandemic precautions. Dowling announced 517 surgeries have been competed across P.E.I. so far, as restrictions ease.
An outbreak of COVID-19 in New Brunswick is a reminder that risks remain, said chief public health officer Dr. Heather Morrison at Tuesday’s briefing.
During the news conference, Morrison said New Brunswick is another example that it only takes one person to spread the virus.
Recently, a doctor working in Campbellton spread the coronavirus when he returned to work after travelling in Quebec without self-isolating upon his return.
Several people have since tested positive for COVID-19 in that community, and some have been hospitalized.
AT A GLANCE:
Who gets tested?
- Members of the public with symptoms
- Health-care workers who travelled to P.E.I. to work
- Health-care workers arriving from out of province
- Staff at QEH microbiology laboratory
- New residents of long term-care facilities
- Staff and residents in long-term care facilities ONLY IF a case is discovered
- Patients who have been transferred between facilities
- Temporary foreign workers prior to end of self-isolation period
- Essential workers with frequent travel inside P.E.I. (ie: truck drivers)
- Autopsies
Morrison said it is a reminder the risk still exists, adding it’s not time to go back to the way things were before the pandemic.
Phase 3 began in P.E.I. on June 1, and Morrison commended businesses for their adaptations while urging residents to remember the basics.
“As we start into Phase 3, we shouldn’t take these new freedoms that are put in place for granted,” said Morrison.
During her update, Morrison also said a public health order was renewed effective Monday.
In addition, the chief public health officer rolled back the exemption for essential workers returning from New Brunswick. Until Monday, they did not need to self-isolate, but they must now because of the situation in Campbellton, Morrison said.
June 1 also marked the first day seasonal residents could apply to come to their P.E.I. homes.
The public safety office received around 700 applications on Monday from seasonal residents and people travelling to P.E.I. for compassionate reasons, said Morrison.
Public safety will review the applications and allow up to 500 per week to return, Morrison said.
“This will not be a rushed process. It will take time and needs to be done carefully and correctly,” said Morrison.
She also clarified that seasonal properties don’t include RVs or campers on someone’s land and only apply to fixed-roof residences.
Morrison said it has been 83 days since the World Health Organization declared a pandemic.
There are no new coronavirus cases in P.E.I., which had 27 confirmed cases with all of them considered recovered.
Morrison said there were 590 new negative tests since last week. She then reminded Islanders that, as restrictions ease, it is very important to get COVID-19 symptoms checked right away to stop an outbreak.
Anyone who has a worsening cough or fever should contact their doctor’s office or call 811.
UPDATE: Long-term care COVID-19 plans
Marion Dowling, chief of nursing for P.E.I., clarified the province’s plans for managing a coronavirus (COVID-19 strain) outbreak in any long-term care home on P.E.I.
During a briefing on Tuesday, Dowling said the plan to limit the spread of COVID-19 to the most vulnerable Islanders was developed by clinicians, the Chief Public Health Office, Heath P.E.I. and the Department of Health and Wellness.
Dowling said the province has developed a mobile rapid response outbreak team. This team will respond immediately to any outbreak of COVID-19 in any long-term care home on P.E.I. – private or publicly run.
The rapid response team members are trained in isolation of the patient and contact tracing, as well as testing staff and other residents.
They will also manage the safe transfer of any COVID-19 patients to special care units.
The special COVID-care areas will be the former Riverview Manor in Montague, a wing of the Prince Edward Home in Charlottetown and a wing of the Summerset Manor in Summerside.
The Montague facility will be used first. The wings at the other homes will be put to use only if needed.
Dowling said that because outbreaks can spread quickly in care homes, the province wanted the extra space in the two working care homes.
