The Department of Health is updating guidelines on visiting all long-term care facilities. Here’s the breakdown: If a resident and their visitor are both vaccinated, they get to decide if they’re comfortable with close contact like hugging without masks. Residents who are fully vaccinated can choose to have an unvaccinated guest in their room if alone, but they both have to wear masks.
Activities and communal dining can restart without masks or distancing for residents who are fully vaccinated. Vaccinated staff no longer need to undergo regular COVID-19 testing, but they will need to get tested if there are warning signals of an outbreak. As of Wednesday nearly 200 facilities have active COVID-19 outbreaks, with more staff than residents confirmed for positive cases of the virus.
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