COVID-19 UPDATE: LRCSS response to growing concern over Omicron variant (Copy)

Sunday, January 2, 2022 

Welcome to 2022. We are, again, starting this year in a pandemic. This year the dominant variant (Omicron) is highly transmissible and the infection rate is extremely high. We understand the importance of our service to our clients and will continue to provide safe, quality service. 

Due to the high and rapid spread of the current variant please be advised that we are continuing to follow all Public Health protocols including wearing recommended personal protective equipment. We will also be continuing to be diligent with our screener and have added the symptom ‘congestion/runny nose’ back into our screener, as this is a common symptom of the dominant variant. 

As of December 30, 2021 the Ontario government changed the recommended isolation timelines for vaccinated people and children under the age of 12 from 10 days to 5 days if you don’t have symptoms or your symptoms are improving. The isolation time also applies to household members. If you are unvaccinated, the isolation period remains at 10 days. This change was based on changes made by the Centre for Disease Control. The Ontario government also noted changes to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. As there is currently a shortage of available PCR tests and appointments, testing is no longer available to the general public. People who are experiencing symptoms are asked to stay at home and isolate for the appropriate time frame (5 or 10 days, based on vaccination) and notify any close contacts. As a result of the significant increase in cases, you may experience service cancellation more frequently than prior to the holidays. We are doing our best to keep our staff and clients in cohorts to decrease the spread of the virus. In an effort to keep our staff and clients safe; we may not be able to easily reschedule cancelled service sessions. We apologize in advance for this inconvenience. If service cancellations impact your service, please work with your clinician on return dates and next steps. 

We appreciate your patience as we continue to be socially responsible and responsive to the COVID-19 situation to the best of our ability as we continue to follow the guidelines set out by our government. The health and safety of clients, families and staff continues to be our priority. We know this is not easy and recognize the challenges that service interruptions cause our clients and families. 

We will continue to monitor the situation across the province and make service decisions based on provincial recommendations. Please continue to follow the provincial COVID-19 guidelines. 

If you have any questions, please connect with your clinician. 

Please continue to stay safe!

Sincerely,

Sandie Hoskin Executive Director