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Local nursing homes hope to open up visitation

With new guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, nursing homes are hoping to open up to visitors by the end of March 2021.

MIDLAND, Texas — With new guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, nursing homes across the Permian Basin are getting ready to open their doors.

Manor Park is working to adjust their visitation policy in accordance with these new recommendations. They hope to open visitation by the end of the month, once the state changes nursing home visitation rules.

In Odessa, Deerings Nursing and Rehab met Thursday afternoon to go over plans.

In regards to assisted living, CMS didn't designate that category in this update, but here's what two of our local assisted living homes from Brookdale Senior Living had to say,

"We are happy to see CMS safely loosening the guidelines for healthcare settings. Communities such as Brookdale in Midland and Odessa are regulated by local and state regulatory agencies, and we follow their guidance, including protocols that aid in protecting the health and well-being of residents and staff. We look forward to further guidance from those agencies."

The new guidance states facilities should allow indoor visitation all the time for all residents, regardless of the vaccination status of the resident or visitor.

There are a few exceptions:

  • Residents or visitors have a confirmed COVID-19 infection
  • They are still in their quarantine period
  • COVID-19 county positivity rate is greater than 10%
  • Less than 70% of residents in the facility are vaccinated

In the case of an outbreak, a facility should still not restrict visitation for residents as long as evidence shows that transmission of the virus is contained to a single area.

CMS recommends visitors meet residents in their rooms, in visitation areas, or outside. They encourage visitors to continue to wash their hands and social distance during the visit when possible.

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