COVID-19: Biden Administration Opens Nursing Community Doors

The Biden administration on Wednesday issued revised guidelines for nursing community visits during the pandemic, allowing guests to go inside to visit residents, whether they or the residents have been vaccinated or not, reports the New York Times . This is the first revision to the federal government's nursing community guidance since September, and it was published as over 3 million vaccine doses have been administered in communities, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Chief Medical Officer Lee Fleisher said the new recommendations are based on the millions of vaccines administered to residents and staff of these care communities, along with decreasing infections. However, the guidance does recommend certain limits, with "responsible indoor visitation" permitted at all times unless a guest is visiting an unvaccinated resident in a county where the COVID-19 positivity rate is higher than 10 percent, and less than 70 percent of residents in the community have been fully vaccinated. The guidance also recommends limiting visits if residents have the virus or are in quarantine. Federal officials also said outdoor visits were still preferable due to a lower risk of transmission, even when residents and guests have been fully inoculated.