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Sincerely,

CMS has issued March 10 revisions to QSO-20-38-NH, the memo on long term care (LTC) facility COVID-19 testing requirements, and to QSO-20-39-NH on visitation. In both memos, CMS has aligned its guidance with the CDC’s guidance separating individuals who are “up-to-date with all recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses” (i.e., having received a booster dose in addition to the primary series) versus being “fully vaccinated” (i.e., having received the one- or two-dose primary series). Specifically, the revisions replace the term “vaccinated” with “up-to-date with all recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses” and delete the term “unvaccinated.”

VHCA-VCAL encourages members to read both revised memos in their entirety and update their policies and procedures accordingly.

In addition to the change in terms, the revisions in QSO-20-38-NH include changes to “Table 2: Routine Testing Intervals by County COVID-19 Level of Community Transmission” related to the minimum testing frequency of staff who are not up-to-date. A facility should now test all staff, who are not up-to-date, at the frequency prescribed in the Routine Testing table based on the level of community transmission reported in the past week. Facilities must test staff and residents, regardless of vaccination status, who present signs or symptoms of COVID-19 or in an outbreak investigation. The memo also updates the recommendations for testing individuals within 90 days after recovering from COVID-19.

QSO-20-39-NH updates visitor screening and quarantine criteria related to the change in terms. Visitor screening and quarantine requirements are now aligned with CDC recommendations and have been updated to reflect that visitors will now follow the same quarantine guidelines as residents and should not visit until they have met the criteria to discontinue isolation or quarantine.

Please note that CDC has updated how it is displaying county-level COVID-19 community transmission information, which must be documented and used to determine COVID-19 testing frequency for staff. On the CDC COVID-19 Integrated County View webpage, scroll to see the map, which includes the color coding for counties. By clicking on your locality, you can see the current color coding with the date stamp and color key to download for your records.

Acting State Health Commissioner Dr. Colin Greene issued a COVID-19 Update on March 10.