COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina has updated visitation guidelines for nursing homes and community residential care facilities to allow indoor visitation based on percent positive county data.
According to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) and SC Gov. Henry McMaster, the updated guidelines will result in more facilities allowing visitation.
As of today, any facility that meets the following standards must allow in-person, indoor visitation:
- a less than or equal to 10 percent positivity rate in the county in which the facility is located, using DHEC’s data, and
- no COVID-19 cases among staff and/or residents in the past 14 days, and
- maintained CMS’ core principles of COVID-19 infection prevention
Before today, guidelines for outdoor and indoor visitation were based on percent positive data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The March 10 update direct long-term care facilities to use DHEC's percent positive by county data instead.
According to the report, before this change 177 facilities were not allowing visitation. 43 of those facilities cited percent positive in their county as the reason.
DHEC is recommending that facilities with limited visitation because of percent positivity rates encourage safe indoor visitation during 'compassionate care situations.'
Facilities should also continue to allow outdoor visitation, virtual visits, and window visits consistent with DHEC’s guidelines.
“Too many South Carolinians have been prohibited from visiting their loved ones in long term care facilities because of overburdensome federal guidelines,” said Gov. Henry McMaster. “Prioritizing the physical health and safety of our most vulnerable citizens is critically important, but we must also protect their mental and emotional health. These updated guidelines represent important progress and will result in many facilities opening for visitation, but there’s more work to be done and we will continue pushing federal agencies to allow expanded visitation.”
According to DHEC, 100% of the state's nursing homes have completed their first COVID-19 vaccination clinic, and 86% have completed their second. 98% of the state's community residential care facilities have had their first vaccination clinic, and 86% have had their second.
In total, more than 61,500 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given to SC's roughly 40,000 long-term care facility residents, and more than 36,700 doses have been given to the approximately 40,000 workers who care for them, according to the report.
“When COVID-19 first spread across the country, long-term care facilities were devastated as the virus took its toll on nursing home residents who were among the most vulnerable to the virus,” said Dr. Edward Simmer, DHEC Director. “In South Carolina, efforts had been underway to prepare long-term care facilities for the arrival of the virus, and DHEC has worked with facilities to help implement disease prevention protocols. Still, we lost many loved ones to this deadly virus. That’s why we prioritized nursing home residents among the first to be vaccinated, and after a massive statewide effort, nearly all long-term care facility residents in the state now have had the opportunity to get their life-saving shots.”
According to DHEC, the method they use to calculate percent positivity rates is the same one the CDC uses.
The county positivity rate is based on an average of the past 14 days and the report is updated on the DHEC’s website weekly, on Thursdays at 1 p.m. Additional details about the updated guidelines requiring facilities to use DHEC’s percent positive by county data include:
- The county positivity rate must be greater than 10 percent in order for facilities to use this reason for not allowing indoor visitation.
- These guidelines replace the previous use of CMS data to determine visitation status for purposes of indoor visitation.
- As of the most recent data, 40 of 46 counties have positivity rates that are less than or equal to 10 percent. This means the current county positivity rate shouldn't affect visitation except for the six counties (Allendale, Barnwell, Chesterfield, Lancaster, McCormick, and York) with rates higher than 10 percent.
- Trends in county percent positivity rates can go up or down from one report to the next. This means, a facility’s visitation status could change from one week to the next, based on the data.
- DHEC will continue to provide weekly updates on the current visitation status for all nursing home and congregate care residential facilities in the state, online here.
For the latest information about nursing homes and extended care facilities impacted by COVID-19, including cases and deaths, visitation status, and county percent positivity rates, click here. For the latest COVID-19 information in South Carolina, click here.