Effective immediately, residents can spend time away from their long-term care homes for day trips or overnight absences. For 'short-stay' absences — those that do not include an overnight stay — homes must provide residents with a medical mask to be worn at all times when outside of the home, if tolerated, and remind them of the importance of public health measures, including physical distancing.

When they return, residents must be actively screened but are not required to be tested or to self-isolate. Residents may also leave for 'temporary' absences of one or more nights. For the protection of their neighbours, residents who leave on a temporary absence will be required to self-isolate for 14 days when they return to the home. If a home makes the decision to deny a temporary absence request, they must communicate their rationale in writing.

The Ontario Government also updated the visitor policy for long-term care homes this week to help operators implement consistent visiting practices for caregivers across the province. The updated policy provides clarity that caregivers are allowed to visit homes at any time, including during an outbreak, subject to direction from the local public health unit. This will support better implementation across homes.

Each resident and/or their substitute decision maker may designate a maximum of two caregivers who can visit, without time limits. If a home is not in outbreak, and the resident is not self-isolating or symptomatic, caregivers can visit together. If a home is in outbreak, or the resident is self-isolating or symptomatic, they must visit one at a time to limit risk of transmission and follow direction from the local public health unit.

• Effective immediately, residents can spend time away from their long-term care homes for day trips or overnight absences. For 'short-stay' absences — those that do not include an overnight stay — homes must provide residents with a medical mask to be worn at all times when outside of the home, if tolerated, and remind them of the importance of public health measures, including physical distancing. When they return, residents must be actively screened but are not required to be tested or to self-isolate.
• Beginning Tuesday, September 8, Ontarians will be able to book class G road tests and access all classes of driver testing services at DriveTest centres across Ontario.
• The Ontario government is helping protect jobs and businesses by extending protection to prevent temporary layoffs from automatically becoming permanent job losses. Although Ontario is now in Phase 3 of reopening, this extension will give businesses more time to reopen and return to full operations. This extension will last until January 2, 2021. 
• The Ontario government is providing $25 million to expand access to the Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program. The funding will be used to support 78 infrastructure projects across the province, including building new dental clinics and renovating existing facilities. 
• The government is protecting transit riders by distributing comprehensive health and safety guidance documents and is providing significant funding to cover lost revenue, enhanced cleaning and other costs incurred because of COVID-19.
• Two new educational resources launched this week which will help prevent human trafficking by teaching kids how to recognize if they are being targeted by a trafficker and making sure they know where to get help. These new tools are part of the province's $307 million comprehensive anti-human trafficking plan.

• The Federal Government announced over 1,000 new projects delivered by community organizations across the country to support seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic. These projects are funded through an investment of $20 million in funding through the New Horizons for Seniors Program (NHSP).

• City officials presented the City’s COVID-19 Resurgence Plan, which outlines priorities and associated actions that the City will implement in the event of a resurgence of COVID-19.
  The five priority areas of the City’s response are:
  → implement public health measures
  → support vulnerable populations
  → support City employees
  → mitigate the impact to Toronto’s economy and
  → ensure the resiliency of City services and a coordinated response.
  
  To learn more on the City of Toronto's COVID-19 Resurgence Plan, click here.
   
• Mayor John Tory launched Island Stories – a new digital storytelling project that invites Torontonians from all walks of life to share what Toronto Island Park means to them – with his own reflections on Toronto Island Park. Featured stories from local artists and island residents are available at toronto.ca/islandstories.