If you want to visit a patient at any of the three hospitals in Windsor-Essex, you will need to be vaccinated or test negative for COVID-19.
Effective August 30 at Windsor Regional Hospital and Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, anyone wanting to visit an in-patient or attend with a patient for an out-patient procedure will have to provide documented proof that their second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine was more than 14 days ago or provide a negative PCR result within three days of their visit.
Erie Shores Health Care is implementing the same policy but it will not come into effect until September 7, 2021.
Rapid tests will not be accepted as a negative test results. PCR tests for asymptomatic people must be done at community assessment centres as the hospital location can only swab symptomatic people.
“From the start of this pandemic, at Windsor Regional Hospital, we have been proactive with our planning and policies to protect our community and staff. In the past, without vaccinations, we had little choice but to stop visitation of patients when community COVID-19 numbers or positive COVID-19 inpatient numbers increased. With the massive increase in community spread of COVID-19, we have to go further than the minimum set in the province based on our local circumstances,” said WRH President and CEO David Musyj.
Accommodations will be made where the visitor is a parent with a child in the emergency room. When a patient has been identified as palliative or end of life accommodations may also be made for visitors who cannot provide proof or do not have time to receive a PCR test in the community.
“It’s clear the highly transmissible Delta variant has taken hold in our community, and Erie Shores needs to take every precaution to keep our patients, staff, and community safe. While we understand this will be an inconvenience for some, it takes each of us doing our part to combat this virus,” said ESHC CEO Kristin Kennedy.
Regardless of vaccination status, visitors will still be required to wear appropriate PPE as directed by the hospital.
These policies are in addition to similar policies put in place for all staff, contractors, students, and volunteers. Staff members who cannot provide proof of vaccination or choose not to be vaccinated will be tested twice a week before arriving at work.
