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 outbreaks say Manitoba's plan to drop a number of pandemic health protections next week will put vulnerable seniors at risk.

Next Tuesday, it will no 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 after one of the deadliest Manitoba long-term care outbreaks 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 exist so that we can keep protecting the most vulnerable in our society," said Calisto-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 masks remain mandatory in 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 impose vaccine requirements, though not all have.

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

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

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

Cerqueti said 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.