What SNFs must do

In an excellent article, Asymptomatic Transmission, the Achilles’ Heel of Current Strategies to Control Covid-19, the venerable New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) offers a strategy for SNFs to combat the Covid-19 pandemic that’s killing their residents:

  • Expand Covid-19 testing to include asymptomatic persons residing or working in SNFs.
  • Isolate infected residents and care for them appropriately.
  • Quarantine exposed residents to minimize the risk of spread.
  • Cohort residents and resume some group activities in nonoutbreak settings.
  • Do routine rRT-PCR testing in addition to symptomatic screening of new residents before entry.
  • Apply conservative guidelines for discontinuation of isolation.
  • Periodically re-test long-term residents.
  • Periodically rRT-PCR screen and surgically mask all staff.
  • Extend these recommendations to all US-based SNFs.

These are excellent recommendations. What are the chances that they will be implemented as legislation? I’m not holding my breath.

Comments

No comments yet. Why don’t you start the discussion?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.