Restrictions on hospital visitors vary across Ontario

The last time Elisha Lemoire saw her father in person, she dropped him off at the hospital for surgery, hugged him and told him, “I love you. You’ve got this.”

But that was six weeks ago, and complications that led to a massive stroke have left her father in Kingston General Hospital since then. Because of COVID-19 visitor policies, she has not been allowed in to see him.

Since the start of the pandemic, Lemoire and thousands of other people across Ontario have grappled with restrictions that leave their loved ones with little to no in-person support from family. Many hospitals have started this month to ease those policies, but several more restrictive ones remain in place, even as the province at large entered Step 3 of its reopening.

“I walk around Kingston when I was down there and I see people eating on patios and now people can eat indoors, but I can’t go in with a face shield, mask and full-on suit to see my dad one on one?” said Lemoire, who is from London, Ont.

The current policy at the Kingston hospital is to allow daily visits for every in-patient from one registered family member. It was recently relaxed, as they previously only allowed visits every other day.

Across the province there is a patchwork of visitor policies. At least one has a general ban on visitors, many have limited inpatients to one designated visitor, or two designated visitors who can’t visit at the same time.

Some hospitals say they are awaiting further direction from the provincial government, which last issued guidance on the topic from the chief medical officer of health in June 2020.

That direction, issued as case counts were falling after the first wave of COVID-19, urged hospitals to allow family or caregiver visits and balance benefits with the risks to everyone. A spokesperson for Health Minister Christine Elliott said no changes are being considered right now.