State further eases COVID-19 restrictions for nursing home visits
Residents at a Long Island Nursing home. Credit: Newsday/Jessica Rotkiewicz
ALBANY — The state health department on Friday ended more mandated COVID-19 measures, including screening and proof of negative tests before visitors may enter nursing homes.
The new protocol comes three years after the virus was confirmed in New York state, which prompted some of the state’s most severe pandemic restrictions on nursing homes and visitors.
The new guidance includes recommendations, but not mandates, for visitors to use masks, special entrances and exits, and to frequently wash their hands.
Facilities, however, may continue active screening if operators choose. At least some facilities are expected to require measures such as screening, negative tests and masks depending on the infection rates in their counties.
The new recommendations call for “passive screening.” That includes providing visitors with information about the virus as well as informational signs in facilities. For example, asking visitors if they have symptoms or have been near someone who had the virus could result in a delay of that visit.
The previous “active screening” had required visitors to complete a questionnaire about any symptoms, to use visitors’ entrances, exits and routes to designated areas and rooms, and mandated hand-washing.
“Enabling families to visit their loved ones safely remains a priority for the Department of Health,” said acting Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald.
The state’s new guidance “fully aligns” with the directions and guidance from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the state health department.
That decision reflects a profound change,
“What the Hochul administration is doing is really looking at the value of uniform policies to provide transparency to providers,” Stephen B. Hanse, president and CEO of New York State Health Facilities Association, told Newsday.
He said Friday’s announcement cements the approach of the Hochul administration to rely on federal guidance for the safety of residents, staff and visitors at nursing homes.
Under former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, the state had its own guidance and local health departments often had their own as well, Hanse said. This contributed to friction during the pandemic between the Cuomo administration, operators, and relatives of residents in nursing homes.
“Sometimes those guidances were contradictory,” Hanse said. “Most all other states utilized the federal guidance. New York came up with its own guidance and the Hochul administration is recognizing the expertise that’s best is from the CDC.”
Nursing homes had faced the most comprehensive restrictions during the pandemic because elderly and infirm residents were particularly vulnerable to the virus. The measures included prohibiting visitors for months in facilities, which operators of the homes and families said was an additional hardship for residents and their loved ones.
Of the 78,952 deaths statewide from COVID-19 since May 2020, 16,383 were nursing home residents, according to the state health department.
Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.
