End of isolation requirements for COVID-positive Manitobans threatens at-risk seniors, advocates say

Advocates and those who lost loved ones amid personal care home outbreakssay Manitoba's plan to drop a number of pandemic health protections next week will put vulnerable seniors at risk.

Next Tuesday, it willno longer be mandatory to isolate after testing positive for COVID-19, one of several restrictions expiring this month.

"That's heartbreaking for somebody like me," said Eddie Calisto-Tavares.

Her father, Manuel Calisto, 88,was one of 56 Maples Long Term Care Home residents who died in 2020 afterone of the deadliest Manitobalong-term careoutbreaks of the pandemic.

"Our governments and our public health leaders who are supposed to be looking after the best interests of [public] health based on science, not on politics, are little by little dismantling the safeguards that existso that we can keep protecting the most vulnerable in our society," saidCalisto-Tavares.

Manitoba also announced late last month that it would begin to loosen visitation rules at care homes, including allowing unvaccinated guests to visit.

On March 15, mask mandates will no longer be in effect in most places in the province. The latest information out last month from Shared Health suggests masksremain mandatoryin long-term care facilities, as do screening protocols.

As of early March, Manitoba no longer requires health-care workers, including those working in long-term care, to be vaccinated or submit to routine testing if unvaccinated.

Care homes have the freedom to continue to imposevaccine requirements, though not all have.

The Saul and ClaribelSimkin Centre dropped its proof of vaccination requirement in guests and workers when theprovince lifted that mandate this month, though not without trepidation.

"It certainly makes us nervous," saidLaurie Cerqueti, CEO of the Winnipeg care home.

"You hope you're doing the right thing, you hopethe government is giving the right direction and advice."

'Absolutely baffling'

Cerquetisaid the facility will continue to mandate masks whether or not the province decides to lift that mandate.

She thinks there have been a lot of restrictions loosened in a short period, and lifting isolation requirements is making an uncertain transition scarier.

"I think it's absolutely baffling why we would be puttingthat in place now," she said. "We're nervous. We're scared.... Does that mean that staff will be able to come into work sick? Does it mean if a resident gets sick that they won't have to isolate in their room? Does it mean family members can still visit?"

Laura Tamblyn-Watts, the CEO of the national seniors' advocacy group CanAge,said having visitors to personal care homes is "critically important" after two years of isolation.

"But getting rid of essentially basic public health standards that keep COVID at bay seems premature," saidTamblyn-Watts.

She thinks removingisolation requirements for COVID-19 positive Manitobansis a "terrible idea" that "doesn't seem based on evidence."

"We've been working diligently to ensure that we limit the spread of COVID 19,and now it appears that Manitoba has taken the hands off the wheel, and areallowing people who are positively confirmed to be infectedto go about their business, which is exactly how pandemics continue, not end."

She also says turning mandates into recommendations may makeit harder for care homes to enforce rules they choose to retain.

'Abuse and negligence'

On top of the isolation requirement disappearing, Calisto-Tavaresbelieves dropping the vaccination or routine testing requirement for care home workers is irresponsible.

"In my mind and in the mind of those that are fighting for seniors' rights, that is abuse and negligence," she said.

Ron Westcott, 77, saidhe isn't as bothered by dropping the vaccine requirements for workers and guests because it's possible to both contract and spread COVID-19 when you're vaccinated, if not at lower rates.

The Brandon care home where his mother Jemima Westcott, 111, lives has always done a good job of enforcing public health orders, he said, and it hasnotified families it will follow provincial guidance moving forward.

The care home will continue to screen visitors at the entrance and require guests to wear masks, and there are still limits on the number of guests allowed.

But Westcott does questionthe rationale behind removing the requirement to isolate after testing positive, and he wonders how much say leadership of care homes had in the decision to drop that rule provincewide.

"If someone has tested positive but is allowed out in the public right away, that is a worry to me," he said. "That's something that I am so surprised that they have changed."

A provincial spokesperson said public health advises people stay home when sick.

"Personal care homes have strict infection and prevention control measures in place to reduce the spread of respiratory illnesses and residents are strongly encouraged to stay up to date with COVID-19 and influenza vaccinations," a spokesperson said in an email.

"Work is still underway as institutions and Shared Health workto finalize their individual site requirements following the Public Health Order changes on March 15."