Eye Protection Risk Assessment Tool to assist with COVID-19 personal protection

Eye Protection Risk Assessment Tool to assist with COVID-19 personal protection

The Minnesota Department of Health published an Eye Protection Risk Assessment Tool to assist in the assessment of COVID-19 universal eye protection recommendations in long-term care facilities, such as nursing facilities, skilled nursing facilities, and assisted living-type facilities (including registered housing-with-services settings with an arranged home care provider). The tool is available here: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/hcp/eyeppe.pdf 

The level of community transmission of COVID-19 directs the personal protective equipment (PPE) recommendations for individual health care workers (HCWs). HCWs in facilities located in areas with moderate to substantial community transmission are more likely to encounter asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic residents with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Core Principals of Infection Control MUST be in place to complete this facility risk assessment tool.

Facilities continue to require compliance with the Core Principals of Infection Control:

• Universal and correct use of masks
• Hand hygiene
• Physical distancing
• Environmental cleaning and disinfection protocols
• Contact tracing in combination with isolation and quarantine

MDH recommendations:

• Health care workers (HCW) should continue to follow the appropriate PPE guidance related to isolation and quarantine, aerosol-generating procedures (AGP), transmission-based precautions, and standard precautions.
• Facilities may choose to continue universal eye protection if their resident vaccination rates fluctuate significantly due to high resident turnover, especially if their staff vaccination rates are low. Higher vaccination rates of HCWs will decrease facility outbreaks.
• Facilities may choose to also assess community transmission rates for the county or counties where their workforce lives, if different than the facility’s county (e.g., a large proportion of a facility’s workforce resides in a neighboring county).