On November 13, 2020, the Ontario Government released a revised COVID-19 response framework. This framework puts each public health unit in the province into one of five levels, depending on certain indicators. This framework aims to maintain health care and public health system capacity as one of Ontario’s priorities.
How does the COVID-19 response framework impact occupational therapists in specific regions, especially those who are providing in-home services?
While this response framework can be applied to a local region, occupational therapists are reminded to continue to adhere to requirements of provincial Directive 2 and the accompanying COVID-19 Operational Requirements: Health Sector Restart for guiding principles when making decisions about service delivery.
Directive 2 requires that health care providers continue to monitor COVID-19 spread in their community and when choosing service delivery models (in-person, virtual or modified services). To obtain this information, occupational therapists can use data sources including:
Occupational therapists with questions about how services may be impacted in a certain region are asked to contact their local public health unit.
Occupational therapists can also refer to Considerations for Community-Based Health Care Workers on Interpreting Local Epidemiology (Table 1 and 2) which provides further considerations on how to interpret local epidemiology and apply it to a risk assessment in making service provision decisions for how to use data when making service decision. If you have any questions please contact our Practice team at 1-800-890-6570 ext. 240 or [email protected].