North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen gave an update on nursing homes and how they're doing with slowing the spread of COVID-19.
Notes from the press briefing:
NCDHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen announced a new order that will require all nursing home staff to get tested for COVID-19 every other week. It was only a recommendation up until this point. In order to do this, Cohen said the state is paying for the staff testing through November.
Cohen said North Carolina is seeing progress for slowing the spread of COVID-19 in nursing homes, but more work needs to be done.
The state implemented a five-point strategy to combat COVID-19 in nursing homes: Prevention, staffing, testing, outbreak management and oversight
As a result of this strategy, Cohen said they are seeing two positive trends. 1) Fewer people are getting sick when there's an outbreak in a nursing home. 2) Outbreaks are shorter.
Here's a look at the five-point strategy:
Prevention: North Carolina sent every nursing home a two-week supply of PPE
- Increased trainings
- Employee screenings
- Mask requirement for staff
- No visitors or group activities
Staffing: Help fill staffing shortages
- Funding to keep and train staff
- Reciprocity for out-of-state nurse aides
Testing: Testing all nursing home residents and staff. (More than 49,000)
- Test all staff and residents when one person tests positive
- Staff testing every other week, weekly if a case is detected
Outbreak Management: Required weekly testing of all staff and residents if there's an outbreak
- Required to report local health department within 24 hours
Oversight: Inspected all 428 CMS certified nursing homes (Completed one-month ahead of schedule)
- Follow up on infection control if a nursing home has a first resident case
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