On Thursday, February 10th the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released updated guidance documents for homeless shelters and encampments. Those documents are available here: 

• Interim Guidance for Homeless Service Providers to Plan and Respond to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) 
• Interim Guidance for SARS-CoV-2 Testing in Homeless Shelters and Encampments 
• Interim Guidance on People Experiencing Unsheltered Homelessness 

 Notable updates include: 

• Updated quarantine and isolation guidance for clients and staff of homeless service to recommend a 10-day isolation and quarantine period regardless of vaccination and booster status.  

• Clarified that staff and clients may follow general population guidance to end isolation or quarantine in other community settings. For example, staff can follow general population guidance for activities other than returning to work, such as grocery shopping. 
• Addressed options for shortening the duration of quarantine or isolation during crisis situations (i.e., severe staffing shortages). 

• Removed references to “fully vaccinated” to refer instead to being “up to date on COVID-19 vaccines.” 
• Included a list of factors that homeless service providers should consider when making decisions about when to modify facility-level COVID-19 prevention measures. 

The MDH congregate living team will review the CDC guidance updates more closely in the coming days and update relevant MDH guidance documents as appropriate. In the meantime, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to your local public health agency or the MDH COVID-19 congregate living settings response team at Health.R-Congregate@state.mn.us.