Under the state executive order, "long-term care facilities shall restrict visitation of all visitors and non-essential healthcare personnel, except for certain compassionate care situations, for example, and end-of-life situation."
What are the special restrictions for nursing homes?
Nursing homes, long-term care facilities and assisted living centers must cease all group activities that don’t allow for social distancing.
What can nursing homes do to limit the spread of COVID-19 in their facilities?
In addition to restricting visitors, nursing homes can implement the following processes to limit the spread of COVID-19 within their facility:
- If the nursing home has a positive resident, the resident should be isolated away from healthy residents. If possible, all residents and all staff should be tested for the virus, per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance. If results render additional positive cases, those positive residents should be cohorted.
- If nursing home staff experience symptoms of the virus, they should stay home for seven days. Once they are fever-free for three consecutive days after the start of their symptoms, they may return to work.
- If staff has a negative COVID-19 test and have no symptoms, they may return to work.
- If employees test positive and have no symptoms, they can return to work, but they can only support the residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 and they must wear appropriate personal protective equipment at all times per guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.