Long-Term Care Facilities
The risk for severe illness with COVID-19 increases with age, with older adults at highest risk. Compared to younger adults, older adults are more likely to require hospitalization if they get COVID-19. Those who live and work in long-term care facilities or congregate living settings should consider the following precautions to protect staff and residents from COVID-19.
Facilities:
To protect friends and family members in these long-term care or communal living facilities, CDC and DHS has advised to:
- Educate Residents, Healthcare Personnel, and Visitors about COVID-19
- Restrict visitors
- Permit visitation only during select hours and limit the number of visitors per resident
- Schedule visitation in advance to enable continued social distancing
- Restrict visitation to the resident’s room or another designated location at the facility (e.g., outside)
- Require or recommend visitors (including healthcare workers, aides, and staff) wear masks over their nose and mouth, if visitors are allowed
- Limit activities within the facility to keep residents distanced from each other
- Regularly monitor healthcare workers and residents for fevers and symptoms and outline criteria for returning safely to work
- Create a Plan for Testing Residents and Healthcare Personnel for COVID-19
- Report any positive or suspect COVID-19 cases of staff or residents to your local health department for further guidance and recommendations. (DHS Outbreak Memo)
- Identify Space in the Facility that Could be Dedicated to Monitor and Care for Residents with COVID-19
- Create a Plan for Managing New Admissions and Readmissions Whose COVID-19 Status is Unknown
Learn more about the risks among people who live in nursing homes or long-term care facilities and about CDC’s guidance for nursing homes and long-term care facilities. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) PDF PDF has also developed guidance for visitations under various circumstances.
Additional Resource:
· View more COVID-19 Guidance for Shared or Congregate Housing
Families:
The best way to protect yourself for you and your loved ones, and to help reduce the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 is to:
- Wear a mask, when you interact with others.
- Limit your in-person interactions with other people as much as possible, particularly when indoors.
- Keep space between yourself and others (stay 6 feet away, which is about 2 arm lengths).
- Wash your hands often. If soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
- Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or the inside of your elbow. Then wash your hands.
- Clean and disinfect surfaces and things you touch often.
- Learn additional information for adults with disabilities.
- Learn How to Protect Yourself
· If you are family member of someone who lives in a long-term care facility or congregate living setting, consider the level of risk before deciding to go out and ensure that people at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19 and those who live with them, are taking steps to protect themselves.
· If you start feeling sick and think you may have COVID-19, get in touch with your healthcare provider within 24 hours.
Being isolated from loved-ones during this pandemic can be difficult. It can cause mental and emotional distress and overwhelming emotions.
- The facility will notify you if a case of COVID-19 is in the facility. If COVID-19 has been identified in your loved ones facility, to protect the vulnerable residents, actions to reduce the risk of COVID-19 may need to be put in place such as, restricting all visitors , increased monitoring or staff and residents and limiting activities within the facility for a period of time.
- Be aware and utilize alternative methods of visitation PDF PDF if the facility you or loved one lives in is restricting visitors
Sources: