CT nursing homes allow visitors as threat recedes

With many of the same restrictions imposed on eating at restaurants, nursing home residents are now able to hold outdoor visits with their loved ones.

Allowing visitors at these facilities is perhaps the best indicator that state health officials feel the end is near of what some think will be just the first wave of the new coronavirus. Senior living facilities have been especially hard hit by the pandemic, with residents accounting for roughly 70 percent of the state’s COVID-19 deaths.

While some nursing homes have already begun allowing visits, some are still in the planning stages.

“Our plan is to start doing that midweek, next week,” said John Mastronardi, executive director of The Nathaniel Witherell, a nursing home in Greenwich.

He said the facility plans to allow up to three family members to meet with residents at a time, and visitors will have to wear masks, have their temperatures taken and sign their name in a log book.

Nursing homes have been almost entirely closed to visitors since Gov. Ned Lamont signed an executive in mid-March allowing the Department of Public Health to barr most family members from in-person visits. The only major exception allowed was for families visiting residents at the end of their lives. Maintenance personnel, health officials and first responders were also exempt.

But as Connecticut and other states in the region begin to gradually reopen parts of their economies, state health officials issued

Nursing homes have been almost entirely closed to visitors since Gov. Ned Lamont signed an executive in mid-March allowing the Department of Public Health to barr most family members from in-person visits.

new rules Monday allowing residents who have not been exposed to coronavirus to meet with their families outdoors.

The visits come with some restrictions.

According to the state Department of Public Health guidelines, visitors must be screened for the virus and wear cloth face masks. Family members will have to maintain 6 feet of distance and facilities should limit the number of people in contact with the resident.

The number of visitors allowed at any given time depends on the outdoor space available. Homes are also expected to provide hand sanitizer and extra face masks.

The virus has exacted a heavy toll among residents of nursing homes and other senior care facilities in the state. At least 2,879 residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities have died from COVID-19 — the disease caused by the coronavirus — or are suspected have been killed by it, state data released June 4 shows. At least 9,558 residents have gotten sick.

Just over 4,000 people have died with the disease in Connecticut.

At Laurel Ridge in Ridgefield, families were able to hold visits on the nursing home’s patio recently, according to Tim Brown, a spokesman for Athena Health Care Systems, the home’s parent company.

Brown said Tuesday the home no longer has any cases of COVID-19. In a Facebook Post Tuesday, the home described the visits as “baby steps.”

Massachusetts began allowing outdoor visits at nursing homes last week with similar restrictions to Connecticut.

In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave no indication when visitors might be allowed at the state’s homes, after he was asked about the matter during his daily press briefing Thursday.

“The close-down is a pain in the neck — yeah, that’s true. My continued answer is ‘But it’s better than death,’ ” he said, adding that he would wait for health officials to say when it is safe for nursing home visits to resume.

Mastronardi, the executive director of The Nathaniel Witherell, said plans to allow visitors will have to take into account the rate at which staff will “burn through” stocks of protective equipment.

“It’s really logistics, it’s really scheduling it... and having enough staff to do it too— because you’re definitely taking staff off the floor” to facilitate the visits, he said.

“People plan and God laughs,” he added.