DHEC releases updated nursing home visitation guidelines
COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO)– On Friday, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control released updated guidelines for nursing home visitation. Under the new guidelines, DHEC says all nursing homes and assisted living facilities must allow indoor and outdoor visitation, with few exceptions.
Click here to see DHEC’s full visitation guidelines based off federal guidance released March 10.
“Residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities, as well as their families and friends, benefit emotionally, mentally, and physically from being able to see their loved ones,” said Nick Davidson, Senior Deputy for Public Health. “While visitation limitations were necessary for protecting the health of residents during the pandemic, current recommendations are now to allow for visitation with disease prevention protocols in place.”
DHEC says indoor visitation should be restricted if the facility falls into any of the following categories:
- Unvaccinated residents: if the facility’s COVID-19 county positivity rate is greater than 10 percent and less than 70 percent of residents in the facility are fully vaccinated
- Residents with confirmed COVID-19 infection, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, until they have met the criteria to discontinue Transmission-Based Precautions
- Residents in quarantine, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, until they have met criteria for release from quarantine
- A new case of COVID-19 is identified, a facility must suspend indoor visitation pending the results of a round of facility-wide testing
According to DHEC, all state nursing homes have had their first vaccine clinics, with 95% also having final clinics completed.
