Ottawa restoring window visitations

• Mayor Jim Watson moved quickly to quell a controversy in Ottawa’s longterm care program on Thursday, ordering management to work with the health unit to reinstate family window visits at the four city- run homes.

But the head of the city’s long- term care program said staff had good reason to stop the window visits, based on the risk of bringing COVID-19 into the sensitive environments.

Dean Lett, the long- term care director, said people were entering the properties and coming in close contact with residents, and in some cases, actually touching them.

“We have a number of rooms that are on the ground floor that have windows that open with screens and families were kissing their loved one through the screen or touching their hands together through the screen, which was a significant risk identified by staff,” Lett said.

Lett said he didn’t anticipate the blowback after asking families on Monday to stop window visits.

“The decision to do this was based on best practices and doing everything we can to make sure that our residents and are staff are kept safe,” Lett said. “This virus gets into a long- term care home, it’s deadly.”

The city’s long- term care homes have reported positive cases of COVID-19 in four staff, resulting in outbreaks called at the Garry J. Armstrong and Peter D. Clarke homes. More than 235 residents of those homes had been tested with no positive cases, though other test results were pending Thursday afternoon.

As of Thursday, there were no reports of residents of the four homes testing positive for the novel coronavirus.

Premier Doug Ford, whose mother- in- law lives in a Toronto long- term care home and tested positive for COVID-19, criticized the City of Ottawa’s window-visit ban during a news conference Thursday.

“That’s ridiculous,” Ford said. “You have a loved one in a home. Most of them are elderly and the last time you get to see your parents in some cases ... I don’t know who’s come up with this ridiculous idea but they need to rethink it.”

Said Ford: “Go visit your loved ones, as far as I’m concerned. This is critical, and hopefully it won’t be the last time you see them. I’d go to the window.”

Back in Ottawa, the mayor’s office said Watson wasn’t aware of management’s decision to stop window visits before Wednesday.

The City of Ottawa’s top public- health official revealed that the municipal government didn’t check with her before implementing a ban on window visits at the four facilities.

“Looking through a window is not a threat. It can be an important source of reassurance for family members on both sides of the glass,” Vera Etches, Ottawa Public Health’s medical officer of health, said Thursday.