Doña Ana County among counties that can expand nursing home visitation options

SANTA FE – Earlier this month, state officials announced new guidelines for long-term care facilities to expand COVID-safe visitation options, but only for counties meeting certain criteria. On Friday the state announced facilities in 25 counties are now eligible based on the COVID-positivity rates in their region.

Doña Ana County is one of the counties now eligible.

Expanded visitation options include masked open-window visits and masked “chatterbox” visits for residents and their loved ones to ensure the safety of residents and facility staff workers.

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Starting Monday, Aug. 31, long-term care facilities that are not experiencing a new positive COVID-19 case or outbreak and that are located within the following 25 counties (which each have a COVID-positivity rate below 5%), will be able to provide additional visitation options for their residents and their loved ones:

Bernalillo Catron Cibola Colfax De Baca Doña Ana Grant Guadalupe Harding Lincoln Los Alamos McKinley Mora Otero Rio Arriba San Juan San Miguel Sandoval Santa Fe Sierra Socorro Taos Torrance Union Valencia

The new guidelines will allow once-monthly, by-appointment, open-window visits or visits using a Plexiglas barrier between a single family member and a COVID-negative resident. During the visit, all participants will need to wear masks (unless the resident has a medical condition that prohibits them from wearing a mask, in which case they will need to be 12 feet away). Staff at the facilities will need to be present if the resident is unable to maintain a safe social distance. Facilities will also be able to create outdoor visitation stations.

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Visitation will be discontinued if there is a new positive or an outbreak within a facility.

For information regarding the new visitation options visit cv.nmhealth.org or contact the New Mexico Department of Health’s Division of Health Improvement at 505-476-9074.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Doña Ana County among counties that can expand nursing home visitation options

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