In response to concerns from frontline workers, the Secretary of Health issued an order requiring long-term care facilities to take additional steps to protect their staff and residents from COVID-19. The order requires nursing homes, personal care homes, assisted living residences and private intermediate care facilities to develop, implement and adhere to policies and procedures to procure and distribute personal protective equipment (PPE) to staff providing direct care to COVID-19 positive residents by Thursday, August 27. The policies and procedures must, at a minimum, include the distribution of respirators, such as N95 masks, to staff providing direct patient care to residents who are or suspected of being COVID-19 positive and to staff assigned to provide direct patient care in COVID-19 units. The respirators distributed by each facility must be National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) approved respirators, or if those are not available, respirators approved by the Food and Drug Administration, including those approved through an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). The respirator must be given to staff before the beginning of the staff member’s shift, and the respirator must be replaced as soon as practical if the facility is notified by a staff member that their mask has become soiled, damaged or otherwise ineffective.
