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Beginning over the weekend, new protocols directing all nursing homes in Connecticut to require visitors to either show proof that they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have recently tested negative for the virus in order to enter the facilities became official.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont issued the executive order on Wednesday, Jan. 19.
Specifically, when entering nursing homes, visitors must:
- Provide proof that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and, if eligible, under FDA or CDC guidance, have received a COVID-19 vaccine booster;
- Provide paper or electronic proof of a negative COVID-19 test result from either a rapid antigen test that was completed within the previous 48 hours or a PCR test that was completed within the previous 72 hours; or
- Take a rapid antigen test at the nursing home.
The order also requires nursing homes to deny entrance to any visitor that tests positive for COVID-19 or who refuses to take a rapid antigen test.
It also made it official that a nursing home cannot deny entrance to any visitor who is willing to take a rapid antigen test but is unable to do so because the nursing home is not able to provide one.
To further that cause, Lamont said that the Connecticut Department of Public Health began distributing 50,000 rapid antigen tests to all nursing homes on Friday, Jan. 21, the day before the order took effect.
“We know that some of the people who are most vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19 include those who live in nursing homes, which is why we need to be doing everything we can to protect them from this virus,” Lamont said. “This is one more precaution we can implement at these facilities to keep them safe.”
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