LeadingAge has received quite a few questions about the quarantine guidance released by CDC last week. The guidance is located here. Their review of the guidance is available here. Please note that this guidance explicitly does not apply to “residents in healthcare settings.” We know that means nursing homes. What about Assisted Living, Independent Living, and Senior Housing? On the Thursday edition of the Coronavirus Update Call, guest Kara Jacobs-Slifka from CDC suggested that when speaking about healthcare settings, CDC is referring to nursing homes, assisted living, hospice, and acute care hospitals. With regard to our other member settings such as independent living (including IL on a CCRC campus), adult day, senior housing, and home health, it was noted that technically these settings would fall into “community” and could follow the new quarantine guidance, but CDC recommends considering a more conservative approach (a full 14-day quarantine) when these settings are serving higher risk adults with multiple comorbidities.

Please note that this guidance also explicitly states that one could consider using this guidance to determine work restrictions for vaccinated healthcare personnel with high-risk exposures as part of a plan to mitigate staffing shortages. Guidance for determining what constitutes a high-risk exposure is available here. Guidance for mitigating staffing shortages is available here. Note that decisions to employ contingency and crisis strategies to mitigate staffing shortages must be made in consultation with state/local public health.

Questions?

Contact:

Laura Hofmann, MSN, RN – Director of Clinical and Nursing Facility Regulatory Services
c: 425-231-4804