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St Paul (KROC AM News) - The Minnesota Department of Health has made some changes to its visitation guidance for long-term care facilities, including nursing homes and assisted living-type sites.

The department says the changes reflect new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and are effective immediately.

The department says “This latest guidance adds more flexibility and visitation options.”

According to the latest CMS guidance, facilities should allow responsible indoor visitation at all times and for all residents, regardless of vaccination status of the resident or visitor, unless certain scenarios arise that would limit visitation such as the following:

  • Unvaccinated residents, if the COVID-19 county positivity rate is greater than 10 percent and less than 70 percent of residents in the facility are fully vaccinated
  • Residents with confirmed COVID-19 infection, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, until they have met the criteria to discontinue transmission-based precautions
  • Residents in quarantine, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, until they have met criteria for release from quarantine.

The updated guidance also emphasizes that compassionate care visits should be allowed at all times, regardless of a resident’s vaccination status, the county’s COVID-19 positivity rate, or an outbreak.

The updated guidance was made due to the growing number of vaccinations and the slowing of coronavirus infections.

News update:  Gov Walz dials back Covid restrictions.

LOOK: Answers to 30 common COVID-19 vaccine questions

While much is still unknown about the coronavirus and the future, what is known is that the currently available vaccines have gone through all three trial phases and are safe and effective. It will be necessary for as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated in order to finally return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, and hopefully these 30 answers provided here will help readers get vaccinated as soon they are able.

 

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