Some nursing homes will be able to remove the blanket indoor mask requirements that have been in effect for the last two and a half years — with the exception of those in areas with “high” Covid transmission levels.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued the guidance late Friday, just one month after the government agency eased Covid-19 guidelines for schools and other settings. CBS News first reported on the news.
“Updates were made to reflect the high levels of vaccine-and infection-induced immunity and the availability of effective treatments and prevention tools,” the government agency noted in its guidance.
In addition to nursing homes, the guidance applies to all U.S. health care settings – including home health and hospitals.
The most recent CDC community transmission data indicates that just over 73% of counties in the U.S. have “high” Covid transmission levels, whereas 26.91% of counties meet the substantial, moderate or low categories.
This is different from the community level metric used for non-health care settings, according to the CDC.
Even if indoor masking — also referred to as “source control” by the CDC — is not required across the board, it is recommended for anyone in a nursing home if any of the following situations apply:
• If someone has a suspected or confirmed Covid-19 infection or other respiratory infection
• If someone has close contact or a higher-risk exposure with someone who had Covid for 10 days after their exposure
• If someone resides or works somewhere that is experiencing a Covid outbreak; universal mask wearing can be discontinued once no new cases have been identified for 14 days
• If mask wearing is recommended by public health authorities
The CDC also made tweaks to other Covid-related guidance for health care providers in its latest batch of updates. Screening testing of asymptomatic health care personnel, including those in nursing homes, should be at the discretion of the facility. Separate guidance has been issued for residents admitted to nursing homes.
The changes should come as welcome news to the many providers and industry groups that have recently called on the CDC to adjust the requirements — especially at a time when the sector is facing a workforce shortage.
Holly Harmon, AHCA/NCAL’s senior vice president of quality, regulatory & clinical services, said in a statement that adapting Covid protocols recognizes the current point in the pandemic in addition to prioritizing quality of life for residents across the country.
“After more than two years, residents will get to see more of their caregivers’ smiling faces, and our dedicated staff will get a moment to breathe,” Harmon said. “We look forward to ongoing collaboration with the CDC and other public health officials to help ensure long term care facilities receive the necessary support to best serve our nation’s seniors.”
Provider, advocacy group pleas have been heard
Nursing home operators like Carespring CEO Chris Chirumbolo believed the sector would not make meaningful progress in rebuilding its depleted workforce pool until the government began unwinding the Covid-19 related guidelines put in place back in 2020.
He went so far as to say the industry would likely remain stagnant.
Nursing homes were one of, if not the only, health care sector still practicing under these challenging federal guidelines, Chirumbolo told SNN on a recent episode of the Rethink podcast.
A lot has changed since the start of the pandemic, both in the large percentage of staff and resident vaccination levels, and the overall understanding of the coronavirus.
Back in August, when the Biden administration announced its plans to require vaccinations for nursing home staff, about 82.4% of residents and 60% of staff per facility were vaccinated.
Those numbers have climbed to 87.3% of residents and 86.9% of staff who have completed their primary vaccination series per facility, according to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) data as of Sept. 4.
Just over half of residents, 56.8%, and 42.7% of staff are considered “up to date” on their vaccines, CMS data reports.
And for six months running, the rate of Covid-19 deaths among nursing home residents has been less than 1 per 1,000 residents, according to data from AHCA/NCAL.
AHCA/NCAL President and CEO Mark Parkinson told Skilled Nursing News last month that he hoped the CDC would make such a move in a “data driven way” by looking at deaths and hospitalizations and, when they are low, the requirements could be relaxed. He also told SNN at the time that he had expected the CDC to adjust the guidance “pretty soon.”
Companies featured in this article:
AHCA/NCAL, American Health Care Association, Carespring, CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMS
