CDC | Testing Guidelines for Nursing Homes
On June 13, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued updated guidance for COVID-19 testing in nursing homes. Thank you to the many member organizations providing this vitally important care to our nation’s vulnerable populations. Changes are summarized below:
- Reorganized recommendations to address:
- Viral testing of healthcare personnel (HCP)
- Viral testing of residents
- Viral testing in response to an outbreak
- Changed “baseline” testing to “initial” testing, although these terms are interchangeable
- Added the following recommendations:
- Testing the same individual more than once in a 24-hour period is not recommended.
- Clinicians are encouraged to consider testing symptomatic residents for other causes of respiratory illness, for example influenza, in addition to testing for SARS-CoV-2.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), COVID-19 coronavirus, Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF)
