Overview
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 COVID-19 testing requirements and updated policies and guidance.
Vaccine rollout
The COVID-19 vaccine program for long-term care residents and staff launched in Oregon on December 21, 2020.
Recent policy updates
- Indoor visitation guidance ̶ The Oregon Department of Human Services, in partnership with Oregon Health Authority, recently 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 may need to limit indoor visitation in some cases, which are:
- 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 its
website.
- Resident to be visited has not had a COVID-19 vaccine and the following additional conditions exist:
- The facility is located in a county where OHA has determined there's a COVID-19 positivity rate of >10%. To determine the county's positive rate, facilities are asked to
use this OHA resource.
- <70% of residents in the facility are fully vaccinated.
- 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:
COVID-19 testing
Nursing, residential care and assisted living facilities are at higher risk for COVID-19 outbreaks due to their congregate nature. Testing is a primary strategy for reducing the likelihood of an outbreak.
Facility Precautions
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 this Restriction of Admission sign at their entrance and exits. If you have questions about visitor and admission limits, please call the facility directly.
The lists below identify those facilities reporting that they have either a staff member or resident with COVID-19 or a pending test.
Confirmed and Pending Cases of COVID-19
Nursing, residential care and assisted living facilities reporting that they have a staff member or resident with COVID-19 aren’t accepting new residents and have more limits on visitors. They are also taking extra precautions. We have provided lists below of these facilities so that you understand the restrictions they have in place. Facilities remain on these lists while a resident is recovering from the virus. In some cases, a resident who tested positive may no longer be at the facility. They could be at a hospital. The facility remains on the list until 14 days have passed without any residents showing symptoms of the virus. Staff members who contract the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 do not continue to work when ill.
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 Homes
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.
COVID-10 Prevention Information 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.
Background
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:
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02/29/2020: Visitation restrictions initiated for nursing, assisted living and residential care facilities.
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03/09/2020: Fully launched statewide, in-person review of infection control procedures and emergency plans for pandemic at more than 670 facilities.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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06/15/2020: Governor's Long-Term Care Facility Testing Plan is introduced.
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07/20/2020: Oregon Department of Human Services introduces limited outdoor visitation for long-term care facilities.
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11/02/2020: Oregon Department of Human Services allows limited indoor visitation at qualifying nursing, assisted living and residential care facilities.
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11/18/2020: Limited indoor visitation prohibited due to rising COVID-19 infections.
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12/10/2020: Network of Covid-19 recovery units expanded statewide
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12/21/2020: COVID-19 vaccine program for long-term care residents and staff launched in Oregon
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1/29/2021: Limited indoor visitation permitted under new guidance
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3/26/2021: Updated COVID-19 guidance on visitation, congregate dining and community activities and other policies