The guidance takes effect immediately.
Vaccinated or not, residents of nursing homes are still a fragile patient population, so infection control is important, says CMS. For residents and visitors to nursing homes, even if they have been vaccinated, CMS still wants people to wear a well-equipped face mask, wash their hands and try to keep away physically, a spokesman for the agency said in a statement. -pos said. But the new CMS guidelines offer many other new freedoms.
“CMS recognizes the psychological, emotional and physical toll that long-term isolation and separation of family has taken on nursing home residents and their families,” said Dr. Lee Fleisher said on the agency’s website. Fleisher is chief medical officer of the CMS and director of CMS’s Center for Clinical Standards and Quality. “This is an important step we are taking, as we continue to emphasize the importance of maintaining infection prevention practices, given the ongoing risk of COVID-19 transmission.”
Under the new guidance, visitors do not need a Covid-19 test result to see family, nor a proof of vaccination. However, the guidelines strongly encourage everyone to be vaccinated.
Visits should be limited if the positivity rate of Covid-19 is more than 10% and less than 70% of the residents in the facility are fully vaccinated.
Families should also quarantine visits with residents or if they have a positive Covid-19 test.
However, visits with ‘merciful care’ were allowed at all times. In this case, the resident’s vaccination status or positive percentage of the country does not matter. A compassionate care visit is when a resident’s health has declined sharply.
The guidance still encourages visits to the outside, as it is still the safest, especially for uninitiated persons. The guidelines also encourage people to, if possible, keep physical distance.
“There is no substitute for physical contact, such as the warm embrace between a resident and their loved one. So if the resident is fully vaccinated, they can choose to have a close contact (including touch) with their visitor while they ‘ a well-fitting face mask, “says CMS on its website.” Regardless, visitors must physically distance themselves from other residents and staff in the facility. “
If there is a Covid-19 outbreak in the nursing home, drivers should stop visits temporarily, test everyone immediately, and limit the matter to a single area. Visits can then be resumed to the rest of the building.
Internal visits are now allowed for all residents, almost always, regardless of the vaccination status of a resident or visitor.
If a resident is fully vaccinated, there are hugs as well.
Say goodbye to plexiglass birthday celebrations
“The goal has always been to make sure the residents have a good quality of life, as well as to be safe,” the Trump administration’s CMS administrator Seema Verma told CNN.
Verma told CNN that as soon as the vaccination efforts began in December, the department began reviewing the visitor guidelines.
‘This is one of the issues I raised with the transition team, to say as part of your plan, once you have done these vaccinations, we need to get guidance quickly, because families want to be reunited with their loved ones , ”Said Verma.
For almost a year, birthdays were celebrated through a window or protective plexiglass.
Comforting safe family visits
Both the CMS and CDC recommendations are guidelines only, but not legally binding. Nursing homes are still free to draw up their own policies on masks and visitors, but these facilities tend to go to public health institutions for recommendations and are regulated by CMS. And in this case, the associations working with the elderly are excited about the new CMS guidance.
“It’s balanced between the need to keep residents safe and the need for people to see their loved ones in the nursing home, and that was a very damaging aspect of the pandemic,” Laxton said.
Laxton said family visits offer more than just comfort.
“Families really offer a second line of health and care to these nursing homes. There are never enough staff, especially now in Covid,” Laxton said. “When families come to help feed their residents and engage them in activities, it can usually take a staff member or a few (certified nursing assistants) to do so.”
However, Smith Sloan added that the spread of the community remains a threat to vulnerable residents. People need to do what they can to reduce the transmission of the coronavirus.
“In short,” she writes, “vigilance is still needed.”