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You Can Once Again Visit Relatives In LA Nursing Homes — But There’s A Catch
After a three-month ban, people with friends and family at nursing homes in L.A. County can once again visit their loved ones — but only if it’s been four weeks since the facility has detected any COVID-19 cases.
That could mean a lot more isolation for many nursing home residents, says Mike Dart, a lawyer with California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform:
“For many facilities, especially in metropolitan areas, it may be many months, it may be a year before they consistently have no residents or health care workers testing positive.”
He advocates paying health care workers higher wages so they don’t have to work at multiple nursing homes.
The new visitation rules also say the nursing home must have a two-week supply of personal protective gear, and visitors must wear a cloth face covering, maintain physical distancing, and use hand hygiene while in the facility.
Nursing homes have been a major coronavirus hot spot: As of today, 1,437 residents of these facilities have died; that’s 47% of all virus-related deaths in L.A. County. And while the average number of daily nursing home deaths has been trending down, about 17 residents are still dying every day from COVID-19.
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