CDC updated Covid-19 Guidance

On August 11th, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated their Covid-19 guidance for the general community. They stated that they are “streamlining its COVID-19 guidance to help people better understand their risk, how to protect themselves and others, what actions to take if exposed to COVID-19, and what actions to take if they are sick or test positive for the virus. COVID-19 continues to circulate globally, however, with so many tools available to us for reducing COVID-19 severity, there is significantly less risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death compared to earlier in the pandemic.

‘We're in a stronger place today as a nation, with more tools—like vaccination, boosters, and treatments—to protect ourselves, and our communities, from severe illness from COVID-19,” said Greta Massetti, PhD, MPH, MMWR author. “We also have a better understanding of how to protect people from being exposed to the virus, like wearing high-quality masks, testing, and improved ventilation. This guidance acknowledges that the pandemic is not over, but also helps us move to a point where COVID-19 no longer severely disrupts our daily lives.'”

Effective, Monday, August 22nd, we will adopt the following based on the updated CDC guidance on campus except for the licensed buildings, our Health Care Center and Plaza View Assisted living. They will continue to follow the guidance released by their regulatory agencies.

1. No quarantine is required if exposed to Covid 19 regardless of vaccination status. it is recommended that someone wears a well-fitting N95 mask or equivalent for 10 full days after exposure. You may test the 5th day of exposure and if negative you can test again, 48 hours later, on day 7, and again if negative, may discard use of the mask.
2. We will stop the use of the Independent Living Visitor Forms as well as the visitor, staff, and contractor screening forms. The Accushield kiosks will be revamped to not screen for Covid any further and only print visitor name badges except for the kiosks in the Health Care Center and Plaza View assisted living, those will remain as screening tools as recommended by regulatory agencies.
3. Positive staff and residents will be asked to isolate for up to 10 days and then wear a well-fitting N95 or equivalent for another 5 days based on the potential number of high risk individuals on campus.
4. Testing of staff will change to symptom-based testing. Therefore, we will only test staff that are symptomatic, those that request to be tested and/or those staff on day 5 and day 7 that have been exposed to a close contact. The staff that work in the Health Care Center and Plaza View will continue to test as their regulatory agency guidance recommends/requires.

We know that Covid isn't going away just yet, so while we still are following the updated guidance along with staying up to date with vaccine recommendations, wearing a well-fitting N95 or equivalent mask if you are considered high risk, immunocompromised, or are symptomatic, as well as continuing to practice good hand hygiene, and the other recommended precautions, we are hopeful that we will continue to keep Covid-19 cases to a minimum on campus.
It's been a tough couple of years, but there is hope as guidance is streamlined and we see fewer and fewer hospitalizations and loss of life. Please stay well!

Author Info: Cheryl Knupp

Cheryl Knupp is the Senior VP of Health services here at Beatitudes Campus. Learn more about Beatitudes