COVID-19 Health System Response Materials

For news on the current status of COVID-19 in Ontario and health care guidelines, visit the Government of Ontario, the Public Health Ontario and the Government of Canada websites.

Critical Care

Resources developed by the critical care command table to support decision-making during COVID-19.

• Critical Care Command Table backgrounder (April 21, 2020)
• Recommendations for managing critical care drug shortages (March 23, 2020)

Health Services During COVID-19 Waves

The first wave of COVID-19 in Ontario brought delays to health care delivery. The following recommendations outline how health care providers can continue to provide care for patients & clients through future waves.

• Memo: Fall Preparedness (August 30, 2021)
• Memo #2: Gradual resumption of non-emergent and non-urgent surgeries and procedures (June 3, 2021)
• Memo #1: Gradual resumption of non-emergent and non-urgent surgeries and procedures (May 19, 2021)
• Memo: Province Launches New Ontario Patient Transfer System (May 7, 2021)
• Memo to hospitals: Transfers from hospitals to long-term care homes during major surge (April 28, 2021)
• Memo: Health system recovery (March 4, 2021) 
• Memo to hospitals: Further actions for optimizing care for all patients (January 7, 2021)
• Recommendations for optimizing care through COVID-19 transmission scenarios (October 1, 2020)
  • Quick reference goals and recommendations for each COVID-19 transmission scenario (November 2, 2020)

Hospitals scheduling surgeries and procedures

• Memo to hospitals: COVID-19 response (May 4, 2021)
• Recommendations to Sustain Diagnostic Imaging Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic (September 11, 2020)
• Memo: Ramp down of elective surgeries and non-emergent/non-urgent acute care activities (April 8, 2021)
• Creation of Regional Hospital Incident Management Systems (November 16, 2020)
• Optimizing elective surgery: Virtual care supports in the COVID-19 context (June 18, 2020)
• Providing local virtual access to emergency services (June 18, 2020)
• A measured approach to planning for surgeries and procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic (Revised June 15, 2020)

Outpatient, primary care, and home and community care settings

• Resource toolkit: COVID@Home Monitoring for Primary Care
  • Implementing home monitoring for COVID-19 patients through primary care (March 17, 2021)
  • Questions to ask your oxygen provider (March 17, 2021)

Cancer care

• Supplemental clinical guidance for patients with cancer (March 29, 2020)
• Pandemic planning clinical guideline for patients with cancer (March 10, 2020)

Chronic kidney disease

• Supplemental clinical guidance for patients with chronic kidney disease (March 27, 2020)
• Pandemic planning and clinical guideline for patients with chronic kidney disease (March 9, 2020)

Palliative care

• Resources to support frontline providers (April 20, 2020)
• Symptom management for adult patients with COVID-19 receiving end-of-life supportive care outside of the ICU (April 9, 2020)
• Planning for palliative care delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 24, 2020)

Long-Term Care and Retirement Homes

Resources for homes adjusting care delivery and processes during COVID-19.

• Virtual care supports for long-term care homes (August 3, 2021)
  • Resources to help support the use of virtual care

Personal Protective Equipment

Recommendations based on the best available evidence on how and when to use personal protective equipment in health care settings.

• Recommendations on optimizing personal protective equipment  (Archived September 1, 2021)

Testing

Recommendations to support the health system aligning with Ontario’s COVID-19 testing guidelines.

Provincial Antigen Screening Program

Businesses and organizations are encouraged to participate in the program by registering at ontario.ca/testingonsite.

The resources below provide planning and implementation guidance for organizations conducting on-site screening for COVID-19 as part of the Provincial Antigen Screening Program.

If you are new to the program, we suggest you review the “Overview of the Provincial Antigen Screening Program” video or deck below and, depending on what brand of test you are using, either the Panbio^TM or BD Veritor^TM Onboarding Guides.

If you have questions, contact covid19testing@ontariohealth.ca.

May 21, 2021 Update

• Individuals who have previously been diagnosed with and cleared of COVID-19 infection should resume asymptomatic surveillance testing after 90 days from their COVID-19 infection.
• Screening program participants are no longer required to report preliminary positives to public health units or report the number of follow-up, lab-based PCR tests. 

We are currently updating our resources.

Training and Resources

Overview of Provincial Antigen Screening Program

How to set-up an antigen screening program – relevant to Panbio^TM and BD Veritor^TM.

• Watch training video (May 21, 2021)
• Download presentation deck (May 21, 2021)
• Ministry of Health Guidance document: Considerations for Antigen Point-of-Care Testing

Best Practices for Point-of-Care Testing

Describes best practices for antigen screening, including facilities, equipment, and occupational health and safety measures.

• Watch training video (May 21, 2021)
• Download presentation deck (May 21, 2021)

Collecting Specimens

Reviews the types of swabs used in antigen testing, acceptable specimen collection methods and demonstrates how to collect specimens.

• Download presentation deck (March 8, 2021)

Self-Collection

Instructions on how to swab your nose for a COVID-19 antigen rapid test.

• Watch training video (March 9, 2021)
• Download instructions (March 5, 2021)

Documenting and Reporting Results

Demonstrates how to enter results in the Health Data Collection Service.

• Watch training video (May 21, 2021)
• Download presentation deck (May 21, 2021)
• Download COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test Results Tracker (February 23, 2021)

Panbio^TM Antigen Rapid Test Resources

Provides an overview of how to implement a Panbio^TM antigen screening program.

• Download Panbio^TM Onboarding Guide (May 21, 2021)
• Download Panbio^TM Biosafety Considerations

Detailed information on how to set-up and run an on-site rapid antigen clinic using Panbio^TM.

• Watch training video (May 21, 2021)
• Download presentation deck (May 21, 2021)

At-Home Self-Screening

Instructions on how to complete self-testing using the Panbio COVID-19 antigen rapid test.

• Watch training video (August 23, 2021)
• Download instructions (August 23, 2021)

BD Veritor^TM Antigen Rapid Test Resources

Detailed information on how to set-up and run an on-site rapid antigen clinic using BD Veritor^TM.

• Download BD VeritorTM Onboarding Guide (May 21, 2021)
• Watch training video (May 21, 2021)
• Download Ontario Health presentation deck (May 21, 2021)
• Download BD Veritor^TM presentation deck (March 19, 2021)

COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Testing

• Testing Swabs: Preferred Specimen Collection Methods (Updated June 30, 2021)

Updates on Provincial Testing, Assessment Centres and Lab Network

• Progress made on COVID-19 specimen collection and lab-analysis (December 4, 2020)
• Progress made on COVID-19 specimen collection and lab-analysis (November 6, 2020)
• Progress made on COVID-19 specimen collection and lab-analysis (October 9, 2020)
• Progress made on COVID-19 specimen collection and lab-analysis (May 28, 2020)

Recommendations for COVID-19 Assessment Centres

• Recommendations for COVID-19 Assessment Centres (Updated July 7, 2021)

Health System Response Table Updates

Updates on activities and progress as the health system responds to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Update #9 (April 22, 2021)
• Update #8 (February 3, 2021)
• Update #7 (August 18, 2020)
• Update #6 (July 9, 2020)
• Update #5 (June 22, 2020)
• Update #4 (May 16, 2020)
• Update #3 (April 29, 2020)
• Update #2 (April 22, 2020)
• Update #1 (April 8, 2020)

Virtual Care

Get access to online and telephone services that have been expanded during the pandemic.

• Virtual care supports for long-term care homes (August 3, 2021)
  • Resources to help support the use of virtual care
• Mental health and addictions services: Tools from OTN (August 31, 2020)
• Elective surgery: Tools from OTN (June 18, 2020)
• Emergency services: Tools from OTN (June 18, 2020)
• Remote Care Management During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Nov 11, 2020)