Previous health care provider updates can be found here

COVID-19 Updated Guidance

Directive #3 for Long-Term Care Homes | March 14
COVID-19 Integrated Testing, Case & Contact and Outbreak Management Interim Guidance: Omicron Surge | March 9
Memo: Revocation of CMOH Directive #6 effective March 14 | March 9
Memo to all Health Service Providers on N95 Respirators | March 9
Guidance for primary care providers – Access to outpatient therapies for COVID-19 (sotrovimab and Paxlovid) | March 2
Additional COVID-19 documents including consent forms and information sheets have been added in various languages.

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Public Health Ontario COVID-19 Guidance

Public Health Ontario (PHO) has revised it’s guidance on Universal Mask Use in Health Care Settings and Retirement Homes (February 2022). PHO has also released recommendations for health care workers on How to self-isolate while working (March 8).

You can find all PHO COVID-19 Health Care Resources on their website.

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COVID-19 Testing

TBRHSC has expanded eligibility for PCR testing under highest risk settings to include:

home and community care workers
provincial demonstration school and hospital school workers.

The full eligibility list can be found here: https://tb.covidresponse.ca/

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Reopening Ontario

Ontario will remove the mandatory masking requirement for most settings on March 21, except for select settings such as public transit, health care settings, long-term care homes and congregate care settings. The technical briefing deck Living With and Managing COVID 19 is available online, which includes information on CMOH Directives and letters of instructions, case and contact management, isolation, and updates to data reporting.

Current data and science briefs from the Science Table are available at https://covid19-sciencetable.ca/

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COVID-19 Vaccine Wastage Process

In light of higher rates of COVID-19 vaccine wastage, please review the following process. Appendix H of the COVID-19: Vaccine Storage and Handling Guidance provides information regarding the disposal of vaccine vials and packaging. Please review carefully and follow these instructions. Please do not return expired or unusable COVID-19 vaccine to the TBDHU VPD program.

Following disposal of vaccine, please also complete a metrics form and submit to vaccineinventory@tbdhu.com, so that the wastage can be reported in COVax and to the Ministry.

TBDHU would also like to thank all vaccine providers for their ongoing efforts to make COVID-19 vaccines available to everyone in Thunder Bay and our district

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Local COVID-19 Antiviral Updates

As per the March 2 Ontario Health memo, guidance on access to outpatient therapies for COVID-19 has been updated to expand on the following key points:

Eligibility criteria for sotrovimab and Paxlovid have been updated
The list of sites distributing Paxlovid is expanding – now includes the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre

Questions about antivirals should be sent to Ontario Health contacts Cynthia Stables (Cynthia.stables@ontariohealth.ca) and Jennifer MacKinnon (Jennifer.mackinnon@ontariohealth.ca).

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REMINDER: Vaccine Confidence Survey

Science North has received funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada to develop a public education campaign, including the development of support resources, that will address increasing levels of vaccine confidence. To make this campaign more effective for our local population, TBDHU is looking to get an understanding of local trends in vaccine confidence related to all vaccines, not just COVID-19 vaccines.

We would appreciate your time in completing this quick survey about what you're hearing from your patients and clients. Thank you to everyone who has already participated!

The survey will close on Friday, March 18, 2022. Click below:

Complete Survey

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Thunder Bay District Health Unit · 999 Balmoral Street · Thunder Bay, On P7B 6E7 · Canada

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