New guidelines for nursing home visits

South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control provided new guidelines today for limited outdoor visitation at nursing homes and community residential care facilities, commonly referred to as assisted living facilities.

“We understand how difficult it has been during these past few months for friends and families to be distanced from their loved ones who reside in nursing homes and similar facilities, but we believe the visitation restrictions put in place have helped save lives and have helped protect the health and well being of the dedicated workers who care for these residents,” said Marshall Taylor, Acting Director of DHEC.

A facility’s ability to allow visitation depends on a number of factors, including but not limited to the following:

Existing cases of the virus within the facility
Facility’s staffing capabilities and PPE availability
Facility’s ability to comply with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) testing requirements.
Each nursing home and assisted living facility will need a reasonable amount of time in order to meet the criteria outlined in these guidelines, meaning outdoor visitation will not be immediately available. South Carolinians are encouraged to coordinate directly with facilities to determine when visitation may be permitted and to coordinate visits when possible.

DHEC also recommends that these guidelines be used by intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

As of today, there are 90 nursing homes in the state that meet the criteria of not having cases among residents or staff within the prior 14 days, and there are 31 nursing homes that have only had one case in the last 14 days and would hopefully soon meet this criteria as well.

Since visitation restrictions have been implemented to protect long-term care facility residents, 129 South Carolina nursing homes have taken advantage of the CMS COVID-19 Communicative Technology grant and received funding to connect residents with their family members using tablets, smart phones, and other devices. This grant support provided a way for nursing home residents to see, hear and talk with their loved ones remotely.