As expected, B.C.’s Health Minster says all 563 long term care homes and assisted living facilities in the province have COVID-19 safety plans in place.

Adrian Dix says that is a huge achievement after the province eased restrictions on care home visitors at the end of June.

“These plans ensure that all residents and their visitors can see each other in a safe environment,” he said, noting 140 of these facilities are in the Interior Health Authority.

“In the coming weeks, we’ll do a review to see if we can make further amendments to allow more visits to people in long term care which we all know improves health and well-bring of everyone involved.”

These plans are required before visitors can be allowed inside, though Dix says some facilities aren’t open to the public right now because of COVID-19 outbreaks.

As it stands, residents are allowed visits by a designated visitor in a designated area, with the visits needing to be booked in advanced, with the Minister noting the government started slow to keep everyone safe.

“I’d like to thank the many people involved in getting these plans in place, the caregivers, the care home operators and administrators, health authority programming and licence staff, Ministry of Health staff and of course the families and those working directly in care in British Columbia,” added Dix.

Last week, he said there were 584 facilities that needed to have a COVID-19 safety plan in place, though he noted on Thursday that the number was revised to 563 as some facilities were ‘joint facilities’.

“This change in the number of facilities is due to that factor and the duplication of facility names,” said Dix. “The ministry will be doing regular ongoing verification and consultation with health authorities to ensue these lists remain accurate.”