Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update March 12, 2020

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation continues to rapidly change we thought it would be an appropriate time to communicate with individuals and families regarding the measures that Community Living Mississauga is taking. Firstly, we want people to be assured that we have a number of processes in place for early identification and are prepared on many different levels to take appropriate action to safeguard the individuals we support and our employees. To date we have had no reported cases of individuals or employees being infected with the coronavirus (COVID-19). We know it is a possibility that some people will contract the virus and we are working to minimize the effects on everyone and the services we provide.

We have a daily health check system in place for reporting any symptoms for people we support and we will actaccordingly. Any individual participating in a non residential program who exhibits any of the symptoms will be asked to leave the program and return when they are symptom free. COVID-19 causes respiratory illness that can spread from person-to-person. Symptoms have ranged from mild to severe, and commonly include fever, cough and shortness of breath. As always we expect that any individual, who is not feeling well, should remain home and not attend any program to expedite their recovery and to safeguard others.

In addition, effective March 12, 2020, we require that if an individual and/or their family member(s) has returned from any of the countries identified by the Province of Ontario’s 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)dedicated web page or cruise trips, they not attend any non-residential programs for 14 days after their return. Adoctor’s note for clearance must be provided before returning to the program.

If an individual who receives residential support contracts the virus we will support them to seek appropriate medical care. We will continue to practice universal precautions and to follow the recommendations of health care professionals to minimize any potential risks to others wholive within the home.

Our goal is to continue to operate our supports at maximum level and with everyone’s safety in mind. However, given the predictions of how the virus may affect our workforceand programs, we acknowledge that there may be some service disruption. If this occurs we will give as much notice as possible and restart any services as soon as possible.