Nursing and Assisted-Living Communites in Washington State Will Test Residents, Staff for COVID-19

Residents and staff at hundreds of nursing and assisted-living communities in Washington state will get testing for COVID-19 this month, reports the Spokane Spokesman-Review . Last month, the U.S. Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services published guidance for these communities to reopen, but cautioned states to perform a baseline test first. The Washington State Department of Health launched a statewide initiative to test all residents and staff in nursing communities by June 12 and in all assisted-living communities with a memory care unit by June 26. The effort will start with 211 skilled nursing communities before moving on to the assisted-living communities, and Spokane County health officials estimate that about 260 communities will be covered by the initiative. The Department of Health is supplying test kits and personal protective equipment to nursing communities free of charge. Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries and staff members will be covered by those programs, and the state will pay for testing that is not covered. "In terms of effectiveness, this is a point prevalence study, a snapshot in time," explained the Health Care Authority's Charissa Fotinos. "It helps us continue to build an idea of how transmission occurs to better prepare for and respond to current and future outbreaks."