In the wake of rising COVID-19 case counts, Connecticut is looking to post-acute providers for help with its overflowing hospitals.

The state currently faces one of its worst COVID surges since the pandemic began with the state’s seven-day positivity rate at 22.69% as of last Friday, the highest rate reported since widespread testing began in 2020, according to the Hartford Courant.

The state’s 1,810 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 are the most seen since April 25, 2020. More than two- thirds of the patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are reportedly unvaccinated.

As a way to free up hospital space, the state issued guidance for its nursing homes to assist with the increasing number of COVID-19 positive patients, in a memo sent out on Friday.

“Discharges should not be held at nursing homes due to pending COVID-19 status,” the updated guidance on hospital discharges to post-acute care read. “If testing is requested before transfer, no more than a single test within 48 hours of transfer should be required.”

Any type of COVID test should be accepted, the health department added. 

Previous guidance in the state required any patient transferred from a hospital to a long-term care facility to have a negative COVID test performed in the hospital within 48 hours of their transfer, according to the CT Mirror.

Now, nearly two years into the pandemic, post-acute care providers are expected to be equipped to safely care for individuals with COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status, and thus provide a perfect lifeline for overflowing hospitals, according to the memo. All unvaccinated people who are admitted to a post-acute setting should be quarantined for 14 days, except those who tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 90 days.

“Hospitalized patients should be discharged from acute care whenever clinically indicated, regardless of COVID-19 status,” it added.

The new guidance relates to long-term care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, skilled nursing facilities and home health agencies in the state.

Some nursing home owners have already expressed concerns over taking on more patients, particularly due to staffing shortages and the provision that hospitals are required to report any skilled nursing facility that is unable to accept new admissions due to COVID-19 infection status.

Paul Liistro, chief executive officer of Manchester Manor and Vernon Manor, expects nursing home staffing shortages to make the new guidance unfeasible.

“What’s going to happen is that we’re going to get tattletaled by the hospitals because that’s what they’re supposed to do,” he told WTNH. “DPH is going to call us up and say ‘why did you deny the patient’ and we’re gonna say ‘we didn’t have staff,’ and they’re gonna hear that over and over and over again.”

Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities and Connecticut Center for Assisted Living President and CEO Matthew Barrett indicated that Connecticut nursing homes can anticipate additional guidance over the next week.

He does not read the updated guidance as requiring nursing homes to admit COVID positive patients from the hospital if the nursing home is unable to meet the resident’s needs due to issues such as staffing shortages, lack of appropriate isolation space, or for other clinical reasons, he said in an email to Skilled Nursing News.

State data shows that more than 80% of the state’s nursing homes are reporting COVID-19 cases among either their staff or residents. Staff booster shot numbers in the state remain low as Connecticut became the fifth state to mandate the booster shot for health care workers this week.

Operators must have their staff boosted by Feb. 11 or risk facing a $20,000 civil penalty per day, as Connecticut remains the only state to tie monetary penalties to booster noncompliance at this time.