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COVID-19

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COVID-19 Information for Long-Term Care Facilities

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Oregon has been working with licensed long-term care providers (care facilities) and adult foster homes to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Efforts range from the recent rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine to updated policies and guidance. 

Vaccine implementation​​​

The COVID-19 vaccine program for long-term care residents and staff launched in Oregon on Dec. 21, 2020. Following completion of initial vaccine clinics statewide, facilities are now required to develop COVID-19 vaccine maintenance plans to ensure the protection of their residents and staff. For more information:

Recent policy updates

Indoor ​visitation guidanc​e

The Oregon Department of Human Services, in partnership with Oregon Health Authority, ​updated long-term care facility visitation policies following successful vaccination implementation. Indoor visitation is permitted in all Oregon counties as long as visitors and residents follow guidance to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including wearing a mask, maintaining 6 feet of distance between people and using proper hand hygiene. This guidance applies at all large facilities - nursing, assisted living and residential care.

​Facilities ma​​​y need to limit indoor visitation in some cases, which include, but are not limited to:

  • An Executive Order restricting visitation is in effect because of a known case or suspected case of COVID-19 among staff and residents. Visitors may ask the facility about these restrictions; lists of facilities with these limits are provided by ODHS twice a week on this page.
  • Resident to be visited has a confirmed COVID-19 infection (it does not matter if they have been vaccinated) and they have not yet met the criteria to discontinue transmission-based precautions.
  • Resident to be visited is in quarantine (it does not matter if they have been vaccinated).​
  • The visitor will not adhere to infection prevention guidance, and related protocols, after appropriate coaching and education.

​​​Indoor visitation ​​​for adult foster homes follows different guidelines. It is not permitted if the adult foster home has an Executive Order in place because of potential or confirmed COVID-19 exposure or in counties with extremely high risk of spread of COVID-19. For more information, contact the adult foster home to determine if visitation is allowed.

For additional information​​, please see:

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Facility precautions

Image of Restriction of Admission sign

Long-term care facilities in Oregon must take extra steps to prevent illness during the pandemic.

Facilities with a staff member or resident with a reported or suspected case of COVID-19 case will post the notice, at right, at their entrances and exits. If you have questions about visitor or admission limits due to a COVID-19 exposure, please call the facility directly.

The lists below identify those facilities with extra protections in place because they are reporting that they have either a staff member or resident with COVID-19 or a pending test.

The lists are updated twice weekly and provide the information that Oregon Department of Human Services has available for public distribution at this time. In between updates, facilities could be removed from the lists. If you have questions​, please call the facility where you live, want to live or plan to visit.

​Adult foster h​omes​

To protect individuals’ privacy, we are providing general information about adult foster homes that have reported that a resident or staff member is being tested for the virus or has COVID-19. Information about the total number of adult foster homes making these reports is found below.

​Individuals may call the adult foster home where they want to live or visit to get information on whether they are currently admitting new residents. Adult foster homes will also post signs if they are currently taking additional prevention measures because residents or staff have COVID-19 or being tested for the virus.​​​​​​​
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COVID-19 prevention informa​tion for long-term​ care staff

Please help us share information about how long-term care staff can protect themselves from COVID-19 outside of work, so they don't bring the virus into a long-term care setting. Download and share our flyer (Spanish-language version) and social media message cards for Facebook and Twitter.

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Steps we’ve taken to protect long-term care residents

We’re in regular contact with operators of state licensed long-term care facilities. With the spread of COVID-19 to the U.S., those discussions included emergency planning and infection control preparations.

We also made several policy updates focused on prevention and infection control related to COVID-19 since February 2020, including:

  • 02/29/2020: Visitation restrictions initiated for nursing, assisted living and residential care facilities.
  • 03/09/2020: Fully launched statewide, in-person review of infection control procedures and emergency plans for pandemic at more than 670 facilities. 
  • 03/10/2020​: Policy update included a new prevention protocol in which all long-term care facilities are required to report if a resident or staff member has COVID-19. In the event that a facility reports a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19, it must adopt more stringent infection control requirements under an executive order. These controls include a restriction on admission and a requirement to log their screening activity for all visitors. This practice ensures that state licensed facilities will have proactively taken appropriate infection control measures in the unfortunate event they do have an incident of COVID-19. The executive order is lifted with documentation that a suspected case or cases is negative.​
  • 03/17/2020: Announced that long-term care visitation limits and restrictions increased as part of a broader policy update. These limits and restrictions were applied to all long-term care settings including adult foster homes. 
  • 04/11/2020: The Oregon Department of Human Services and Oregon Health Authority launched a multi-agency support team to assess ​the needs of long-term care facilities experiencing increased COVID-19 cases and help them access resources to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 to residents and staff. 
  • 06/15/2020: Governor's Long-Term Care Facility Testing Plan is introduced.
  • 07/20/2020: Oregon Department of Human Services introduces limited outdoor visitation for long-term care facilities.
  • 11/02/2020: Oregon Department of Human Services allows limited indoor visitation at qualifying nursing, assisted living and residential care facilities.
  • 11/18/2020: Limited indoor visitation prohibited due to rising COVID-19 infections.
  • 12/10/2020: Network of Covid-19 recovery units expanded statewide
  • 12/21/2020: COVID-19 vaccine program for long-term care residents and staff launched in Oregon​​
  • 1/29/2021: Limited indoor visitation permitted under new guidance 
  • ​​3/26/2021: Updated COVID-19 guidance on visitation, congregate dining and community activities and other policies  
  • 6/4/2021: Vaccine data report requirement for nursing, assisted living and residential care facilities introduced
  • 6/21/2021: Oregon Health Authority issued a report on vaccine rates in long-term care.
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