Gov. Jay Inslee speaks to the media during a COVID-19 update Thursday, Aug. 6.
Restrictions on visits from loved ones at long-term care facilities are about to be eased as Gov. Jay Inslee announced a phase-in approach to allowing activity barred in response to outbreaks of COVID-19.
During a press conference Aug. 6 Inslee announced the four-phase reinstatement of visitation at those facilities, similar but separate from the four-phase “Safe Start Washington” plan currently on indefinite hiatus.
Beginning Aug. 12, facilities in Phase One would allow patients to have compassionate care visits, window visits and remote visits, as well as outdoor visits limited to two per day. The second phase allows for indoor visits in limited circumstances, such as if a patient is unable to meet outdoors or remotely, and only with one “essential support person” allowed to enter the facility. The third phase allows for limited indoor visits in more situations, with Phase 4 allowing for normal visitation.
In order to enter subsequent phases a facility must go 28 days without a resident or staff member testing positive for COVID-19, and must have a 14-day supply of personal protective equipment on hand. Facilities must also be located in counties that have moved into a similarly-numbered phase in order to advance, meaning one could not move into the long-term care Phase Three if their county was only in their respective Phase Two.
In all phases, social distancing, use of facial coverings and screening of individuals for disease would be required until the end of the pandemic.
Washington State Secretary of Health John Wiesman said that as of Aug. 4 there had been 5,694 cases of COVID-19 associated with long-term care facilities and 894 deaths statewide — roughly 10 percent of total cases and more than half of total deaths in Washington.
One of the first outbreaks of COVID-19 in Washington happened at a long-term care facility in Kirkland, after which restrictions on visitation were initially imposed. Washington State Department of Social and Health Services Secretary Cheryl Strange said more than 500 of the roughly 4,000 facilities in the state have reported cases of the disease.
Strange acknowledged that the restrictions on visitation have led to situations where highly emotional moments had been mired by an inability to be with long-term care residents in person.
“Some families have had to endure the unthinkable, saying goodbye to loved ones on virtual platforms … instead of being there at the bedside,” Strange said. “But still the toll would have been much greater without restricting those visitations and implementing other emergency measures.”
Strange said the restrictions allowed her department to conduct infection control surveys at the thousands of facilities in the state. She noted some additional criteria for facilities to advance in phases, including access to consistent testing for residents and staff.
Long-term care facilities have been sites of broad testing initially ordered in May. As of the press conference Strange said all nursing homes have had patients and staff tested, with Bill Moss, DSHS assistant secretary for aging & long-term support, saying that residents and staff in all types of facilities will hopefully be tested by mid-September.
Inslee said the phase-in was “very carefully calibrated” to avoid seeing an increase of cases or deaths once visitation resumes.
“I’m very confident that we’re in the sweet spot of restoring the relationships and the joy of family, at the same time providing the same level of protection to these residents,” Inslee said.
Wiesman said “so much has changed” since the Kirkland outbreak, explaining at the time of those cases the state wasn’t aware of how much COVID-19 was circulating in the community as a whole outside of the facility.
“The science has improved so dramatically since those early days,” Inslee added. “As we’ve learned we’ve gotten more successful, smarter and more resilient.”
Strange thanked the thousands of families with loved ones in long-term care facilities for their patience and understanding over the past five months.
“We all look forward for the eventual return to normalcy in these facilities, and believe this phased-in approach is really the first step of making that happen,” Strange said.
