The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Lamont announces expanded visiting hours at nursing homes
Connecticut nursing homes, which for most of the last five months were off limits to family and friends during the coronavirus pandemic, may now have expanded visits depending on the facilities, Gov. Ned Lamont and Acting Public Health Commissioner Deidre Gifford announced on Thursday.
Families will now be allowed to visit indoors with loved ones who have experienced deterioration due to social isolation, or are close to death.
“We’re trying to make it easier for you to see a loved one there,” Lamont said. “I was the guy who had to make the call in early March that we no longer would allow visitation in our nursing homes.”
The number of permitted visits will increase, and the 20-minute limit will extend to a half-hour, Gifford said during the governor’s daily news briefing from the State Capitol. The facilities began allowing some visitation in June.
“This is a policy that is not for every resident of the nursing facility, but it does impact the general way that nursing homes are handling visits,” Gifford said. “Some nursing homes were interpreting our prior guidance to say only have one visit a week. That’s not the case.”
Each nursing home must develop visitation policies and assess psychosocial needs for each resident. Homes will be open for visitors five days a week, and one of the days must be on a weekend, Gifford said. “So that will improve access for families who may not be able to visit during the week.”
“As long as there is no COVID in the facility those compassionate visits can go on,” Gifford said. “We know how visitation is to residents and families. We’re also very aware of what we saw this spring with respect to COVID infections in nursing facilities. So we’re taking these step-by-step.”
kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT