U.S. Preps Nursing Homes For Re-Opening To Visitors With ‘Rigorous’ Worker Coronavirus Testing

Before re-opening for patient visitors, nursing homes should test all their workers weekly for the Coronavirus strain Covid-19 to ensure the facilities are virus free, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Monday.

CMS administrator Seema Verma said the guidelines are designed to help state health officials as they consider re-opening nursing homes that in many cases have been closed to visitors and loved ones of residents for two months.

“We are using extreme caution,” Verma said in a conference call with healthcare reporters Monday evening.

Covid-19 has ravaged nursing homes, killing more than 32,000 elderly residents, according to some reports. Thus, health officials are expecting the re-opening of nursing homes to outside visitors to be a slow process that could take weeks.

CMS’ guidelines unveiled Monday indicate myriad measures that must be met by nursing homes and long-term care facilities including mandatory patient protective wear and face coverings for residents and visitors who should “wear a cloth face covering or facemask,” the guidelines say.

For those entering nursing homes, anyone entering the facility should be screened and that effort should include having their temperatures checked, the CMS guidelines say.