Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Gov. Wolf announces three-step plan to ease restrictions at long-term care facilities
wgal ^ | 28 June A.D. 2020 | WGAL News8

Posted on 06/29/2020 4:16:24 AM PDT by lightman

HARRISBURG, Pa. —

The Pennsylvania Department of Health and Human Services issued updated guidance to ease restrictions at long-term care facilities (LCTFs).

The plan will allow nursing homes, personal care homes, assisted living residences and private intermediate care facilities to safely resume activities, visitation, and other events for residents.

Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said, “We developed this guidance through collective input from residents and families, stakeholders, academia and facility representatives to allow safe visitations with strong public health measures to balance the mental and physical well-being of Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable residents. We will continue to work with and support facilities to ensure they adhere to these measures.”

In order to cautiously lift restrictions in long-term care facilities (LTCFs), the Department of Health and of Human Services will now require all LTCFs to meet several prerequisites before proceeding into the official three-step process of reopening:

Develop an implementation plan and post that plan to the facility’s website, if the facility has a website, that specifies how the reopening and visitation requirements will be met Administer tests within 24 hours of a resident showing COVID-19 symptoms and complete baseline testing as required in the Secretary’s Orders for skilled nursing facilities issued on June 8 and for personal care homes, assisted living residences, and private intermediate care facilities issued on June 26 Develop a plan to allow visitation that includes scheduling and other safety measures Develop a plan for isolating residents diagnosed with COVID-19 in accordance with PA-HAN 509 Establish and adhere to written screening protocols for all staff during each shift, each resident daily and all persons entering the facility Have adequate staffing and supply of personal protective equipment for all staff Be located in a county that is either in the yellow or green phase of the Governor’s Reopening Plan

Once a facility meets the required prerequisites, the facility will enter a three-step process of reopening:

Step One: From the date the facility enters step one, a facility must maintain no new COVID-19 cases among staff or residents and have no spread in the facility for 14 consecutive days in order to enter step two.

Step Two: While in step two, facilities are required to maintain no new cases of COVID-19 among staff or residents and have no spread in the facility for 14 consecutive days to progress into the final step.

Step Three: The final step allows LTCFs to operate as outlined for the remainder of the Governor’s COVID-19 Disaster Declaration as long as there are no new COVID-19 cases among staff and residents for 14 consecutive days.

If a new COVID-19 case is known, facilities will cease implementing their reopening plan and wait until they have no new COVID-19 cases for 14 consecutive days before restarting the process at step one.

Each step of the plan includes specific criteria for conducting dining, activities, non-essential personnel, volunteers, visitors and outings.

Visitations will only be allowed in steps two and three as long as the facility determines a resident is able to safely see visitors and will prioritize those with diseases causing progressive cognitive decline and residents expressing feelings of loneliness.

Facilities must designate visitation hours, locations (preferably outside or a pass-through not typically occupied or frequented by residents) and screenings to permit a visitor into the building.

During visits, social distancing and infection control protocols such as enforcing the proper hand hygiene with alcohol-based hand sanitizer and universal masking must be adhered to.

Facility staff will monitor visits so all safety guidelines are met and enforced. After each visit concludes, staff will need to sign out the visitor and properly disinfect the designated visitation location. Guidance for visitors is available here. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wolf Administration has taken a three-pillar approach to protecting the residents living in LTCFs by:

Ensuring resident safety through testing, education and resources Preventing and mitigating outbreaks Working in partnership with state agencies, local health departments and LTCF operators

The new guidance issued by the state will supersede the previous guidance issued for nursing homes and personal care homes, assisted living residences and private intermediate care facilities.

Previously, the ongoing visitor limitations, personnel restrictions, and other measures in LTCFs remained in place at least 28 days after the respective facility’s county enters the green phase in the Governor’s Process to Reopen Pennsylvania.

For additional resources regarding COVID-19 and nursing homes in Pennsylvania, please visit the Department of Health’s COVID-19 Information for Nursing Homes website.

For more information regarding personal care homes, assisted living residences and private intermediate care facilities, please visit the Department of Human Services’ website.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: 3rddegreemurder; dncbringsdeath; noaccountability; nursinghome; openpa; plannedmurder; tommiethecommie; wolf
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last
68% of PA COVID-19 deaths have occurred in Nursing Homes.

Nothing like shutting the barn door after the horses get out.

1 posted on 06/29/2020 4:16:24 AM PDT by lightman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: fatima; Fresh Wind; st.eqed; xsmommy; House Atreides; Nowhere Man; PaulZe; brityank; Physicist; ...

Pennsylvania Ping!

Please ping me with articles of interest.

FReepmail me to be added to the list.

2 posted on 06/29/2020 4:17:36 AM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lightman

Wolf is one of the 5 governors refusing to coperate with Steve Scalise’s nursing home deaths investigation.


3 posted on 06/29/2020 4:19:17 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mewzilla
Steve Scalise sent letters to the Democrat governors of NY, NJ, CA, PA, and MI demanding they explain why they ignored protocols, forced COVID-19 patients into nursing homes.

They are all refusing to comply.

4 posted on 06/29/2020 4:21:11 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: lightman

the PA governor and his tranny med advisor have
murdered 1000s of people already.

thousand of people innocent <=== victims

Gov. Wolf and Mr. Levine <==== enemies of living humans


5 posted on 06/29/2020 4:21:30 AM PDT by Diogenesis
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: mewzilla

Is the Secretary of Health’s mom back in her nursing home yet...?

Did we ever find out who’s paying for mom’s room while she’s not in it? When she was in it?


6 posted on 06/29/2020 4:23:24 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Diogenesis
Dr. "Rachel" Levine took his mother out of a nursing home just as he was signing new orders that sick nursing home patients must be mixed in with the uninfected residents of nursing homes
7 posted on 06/29/2020 4:25:07 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: lightman
Yup
He and his freak Health Commissioner first of all kill off the old and infirm in nursing homes and now talk about “safely resuming activities”?
8 posted on 06/29/2020 4:27:35 AM PDT by SmokingJoe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mewzilla

Tranny-in-Charge (PA): "Leave my mommy alone.
She was not like the others who we determined HAD to die."

9 posted on 06/29/2020 4:28:29 AM PDT by Diogenesis
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Diogenesis

The creature from Trans-sylvania.


10 posted on 06/29/2020 4:30:36 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (China kills over 450,000 and the sheeple sleep. Cops kill one person, and cities burn.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Diogenesis

Wolf is despicable.

Nursing homes are the only places I would keep locked down now.


11 posted on 06/29/2020 4:32:32 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Diogenesis

The PA Ping Rules state that a picture of the she/he/it must quickly be followed with the only proven antidote and eyewash: A picture of our lovely FLOTUS!


12 posted on 06/29/2020 4:39:28 AM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: lightman

Your tax dollars at work.

Just don’t ask what they’ve doing with all those billions up to now.


13 posted on 06/29/2020 4:43:41 AM PDT by P.O.E. (Pray for America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: P.O.E.

Pennsylvania - Number 5 in population and Number 1 in the size of state government. That’s where our tax dollars are going... Oh, and let’s not forget almost perpetual road construction.


14 posted on 06/29/2020 4:51:39 AM PDT by ManHunter (You can run, but you'll only die tired... Army snipers: Reach out and touch someone)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Diogenesis

"Dr. Garrison's fancy new vagina"!

https://wiki.southpark.cc.com/wiki/Mr._Garrison%27s_Fancy_New_Vagina

And we all thought South Park was just satire!

15 posted on 06/29/2020 4:54:07 AM PDT by Sooth2222 ("The natives are growing restless")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: mewzilla
Nursing homes are the only places I would keep locked down now.

Common sense isn't in short supply in just PA.

New York is allowing sports -- including basketball -- and indoor dining at 75% capacity next week!

Wondering if these people are actually trying to spread the disease around, or if they just aren't the sharpest pencils in the box.

16 posted on 06/29/2020 5:01:50 AM PDT by Sooth2222 ("The natives are growing restless")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Sooth2222

This is the first epidemic in history where healthy people have been locked up.

That should tell you this was never about public health.


17 posted on 06/29/2020 5:10:12 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: lightman
“We developed this guidance through collective input from residents and families, stakeholders, academia and facility representatives

Translation: I just made this thing up a day ago all by myself but you're never going to hold me accountable for it because I'm a member of a protected class of citizens and any criticism will be considered a hate crime.

Every single announcement that Dr. Levine has made throughout this entire sh#+show has been exactly like this: days or weeks later than necessary, clearly just made up out of whole cloth, inconsistent with decisions made by other states, and completely opaque as to the process. There's absolutely no reasons n why this exact policy couldn't have been issued six or more weeks ago, unless Dr. Levine just made it up recently. It's not complicated, clever, or even based on reality. Nothing address's when a family can take a nursing home resident out of the facility for a visit or outing. When does a family member get to wheel a family member around the grounds of a facility? When does a wife even get to give her husband in a nursing home a hug and a kiss? These are the questions people are looking to answer.

I don't care if "she" is actually a "he" badly impersonating a woman and we all have to pretend that this is normal, I do care that "she" is an incompetent hack badly impersonating a competent government official during a crisis and we all have to pretend this is normal.

18 posted on 06/29/2020 5:20:15 AM PDT by jz638
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mewzilla

“This is the first epidemic in history where healthy people
have been locked up” ....

where those infected have been flown/driven to
uninfected cities (recently by helicopter in CA) ...

where those infected have been FORCED into nursing
homes to murder conservative geriatric innocents ...

where EVERYONE is forced into training Burqas ...

where plans are underway to infect everyone with
FauXi’s retroviruses and worse.


19 posted on 06/29/2020 5:21:57 AM PDT by Diogenesis
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: lightman

Governor Tom Death to the rescue!


20 posted on 06/29/2020 6:31:41 AM PDT by airborne (I don't always scream at the TV but when I do it's hockey season!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson