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Newsletter February 9, 2022

CDC Updates To Nursing Facility Guidance (SNF)

The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) posted recent updates to its COVID guidance specific to nursing facilities. With these newest updates, CDC now differentiates between unvaccinated, fully vaccinated, and up to date individuals. For clarity, CDC is defining fully vaccinated as those individuals who have received a full primary series of COVID vaccinations and up to date as those individuals who have received all recommended doses of COVID vaccine, which includes all recommended boosters. 

Summary of Recent Changes

Due to concerns about increased transmissibility of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, this guidance is being updated to enhance protection for healthcare personnel, residents, and visitors and to address concerns about potential impacts on the healthcare system given a surge in SARS-CoV-2 infections. These updates will be refined as additional information becomes available to inform recommended actions.

Empiric use of Transmission-Based Precautions (quarantine) is recommended for residents who are newly admitted to the facility and for residents who have had close contact with someone with SARS-CoV-2 infection if they are not up to date with all recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses.

  • In general, quarantine is not needed for asymptomatic residents who are up to date with all COVID-19 vaccine doses or who have recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection in the prior 90 days; potential exceptions are described in the guidance. However, some of these residents should still be tested as described in the testing section of the guidance.

Additional updates that will have implications for nursing homes were made in the following guidance documents:

Posted in COVID-19 Updates
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