It may soon be easier to visit loved ones in long-term care facilities. State and federal health officials separately announced Wednesday that they’re easing visitation restrictions.
During state officials’ COVID-19 press conference, State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box said Indiana will now require facilities to offer indoor visitation, if they haven’t had any positive cases in the past 14 days and their county’s positivity rate is 10 percent or lower. “We also increased the amount of time they must allow for visitation from four hours to eight hours during the week and some hours on the weekend,” Box added.
But updated guidance released the same day by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services goes even further. It calls for facilities to allow visitation even if a county’s positivity rate goes above 10 percent. If it does, visitation may be limited for unvaccinated residents, if less than 70 percent of the facility’s residents are fully vaccinated. Other exceptions are residents who have COVID-19 or are in quarantine.
Additionally, Dr. Box announced that long-term care residents may now leave the facility for up to 24 hours without having to quarantine when they get back.
Both Box and CMS cited the increase in vaccinations, decrease in cases and deaths, and risk of isolation as reasons for the changes.
