The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) today released new visitation guidance to support long-term care facilities’ efforts to balance the need to protect residents from COVID-19 and ensure healthy social and emotional connections with family and friends during the ongoing pandemic. Since March, visitor restrictions have been in place in long-term care settings to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, balancing COVID-19 safety and visitation restrictions with the well-being of residents is an urgent priority to limit unintended harms of social isolation. This guidance, which will take effect on August 29, 2020, sets forth a cautious and measured process long-term care facilities can use to determine the most appropriate visitation policy to protect their residents and staff. The guidance at Long-term Care: COVID-19 states that the primary consideration for facility visitation decisions should be whether there has been an exposure in the facility from a COVID-19 case in a resident, staff or visiting service provider within the past 28 days.
