This protocol and toolkit is intended for long-term care communities only, whether regulated under the Hospital Act or the Community Care and Assisted Living Act.
Updated October 2, 2025
This viral respiratory illness (VRI) protocol and toolkit provides guidance for management of VRIs and outbreaks that are primarily spread through close-range droplets in long-term care (LTC) settings. Although senior’s assisted living (AL) units/facilities are not within the scope of these guidelines, the recommended measures may be partially or fully extended to AL units/facilities that are located within or functionally connected to a LTC facility, at the discretion of the medical health officer.
The VRI protocol consists of information and checklists for preventing and managing cases of influenza, COVID-19 and other VRIs (e.g. RSV), and outbreaks in LTC communities. The toolkit is a collection of tools providing guidance for specific VRI situations and are referenced in the checklists.
Assisted living providers are to refer to the Assisted Living viral respiratory (RI) and gastrointestinal illness (GI) toolkit (AL toolkit). For information and resources on gastrointestinal illnesses (GI), refer to the GI toolkit.
Learn more about notifying Public Health after hours, on weekends and statutory holidays.
Print the respiratory illness toolkit
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After hours, on weekends and statutory holidays, the care community is to contact the on call medical health officer (MHO) at 604-527-4806 if:
- The care community with no influenza outbreaks has a new resident influenza case or,
- The care community has two or more resident influenza cases and meet the influenza outbreak definition or,
- The care community has concerns about the severity or the rate of increase in respiratory illness cases in their community.
After calling the MHO on call, send Tool 27 to Public Health using the routine process.
If none of the above situations apply, continue to report/contact to Public Health daily as per the routine process outlined on Tool 27: Resident illness reporting and tracking form.
If questions or concerns arise from a Care Community, please contact the Communicable Disease Nursing Team at 604-507-5471 (Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.).