Relaxing bans for nursing home visits

Within days, Georgians could be visiting their loved ones in nursing homes across the state, easing one of the most painful restrictions brought on by the yearlong pandemic.

The Biden administration said that, with nursing homes’ vaccination rates increasing and new infections plummeting, most should reopen to visitors — with limits.

Nursing home advocates said new rules would be conditional on the state relaxing its emergency bans on nursing home visitation, and a spokeswoman for Kemp said the governor intends to do that.

After that, the Department of Public Health is expected to lay out rules and procedures, nursing home officials said. The homes then would take a couple of days to acquire more masks and ramp up.

“We’re very glad,” said Ginny Helms, president of LeadingAge Georgia, which lobbies the Legislature on behalf of nonprofit organizations that provide housing and other services to the elderly.

“We felt like ... the residents had been suffering from isolation, which led to both physical and emotional hardships,” she said. “And families were very concerned because they couldn’t lay their eyes on loved ones. Right now, everyone is very excited.”

The visits could take place regardless of the vaccination status of a resident or visitor, if the nursing homes meet several conditions. First, for indoor visits, a nursing home must have 70% or more of its residents vaccinated. Most do, as vaccination acceptance has been high among patients. Advocates say one of the primary reasons is that residents understood vaccination was key to getting visitors back.

Second, for a facility to qualify for indoor visits, the surrounding community can’t be among the uncontrolled COVID-19 hotspots. The rules relax only for nursing homes in counties where fewer than 10% of COVID-19 tests come back positive. As of March 8, positivity rates were too high in 15 of Georgia’s 159 counties.