Shorter isolation allowed in Ontario if two rapid tests come back negative

Theglobeandmail.com
Jan. 7, 2022

Ontarians with COVID-19 symptoms can leave isolation sooner than the required five days if two rapid antigen tests come back negative.

Officials say people can resume their regular activities if they receive two negative rapid test results separated by 24 to 48 hours and if their symptoms improve for 24 hours.

The province says it expects rapid test demand will increase to 18 million per week as the Omicron variant spreads, and supply will be limited to high-risk areas for now.

The province says the federal government has committed to send 54.3 million rapid tests to Ontario for January, and the province has purchased 85 million additional tests.

Rapid tests are being reserved in Ontario for test-to-work plans so people can resume work sooner after an exposure, regular testing of workers in high-risk jobs and for people with symptoms who aren’t eligible for PCR tests.

Supply will go first to settings like long-term care homes, hospitals, shelters and Indigenous communities, with further supply for some education settings and workplaces with vaccinate-or-test mandates.

Meanwhile, Ontario is reporting 2,279 patients in hospital with COVID-19, including 319 people in intensive care.

That’s up from 2,081 patients hospitalized and 288 people in ICUs one day ago.

Ontario’s long-term care minister says COVID-19 outbreaks are hitting homes in almost all public health units, with staff absences of between 20 and 30 per cent in some areas.

Rod Phillips says there are currently outbreaks reported in 186 homes in 30 of the province’s 34 public health units.

He says he expects the number will continue to rise with the highly contagious Omicron variant spreading in communities at record levels.

Phillips says staff absence rates range from 20 to 30 per cent in some of the hardest-hit areas and the ministry is in contact daily with homes that are struggling.

He says staffing is a concern, but the long-term care sector is affected differently than hospitals, which deal with new admissions while short-staffed due to virus exposures and infections.

Last month the province put limits on visitors to long-term care homes to reduce the risk of virus exposure amid Omicron’s spread.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says 232 intensive care patients are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status and 87 are fully vaccinated.

Twenty new deaths were reported in the province.

The province is reporting 13,339 new COVID-19 cases but Public Health Ontario says the actual case count is likely higher due to the current testing policy.

The numbers come ahead of an expected update from provincial officials on the deployment of rapid antigen COVID-19 tests.