Attn: Nursing Home and Assisted Living Providers
Updated April 13, 2020: BOALTC Memo re: COVID-19, Visitation and Long-Term Care Communities
On April 13, 2020, the Board on Aging and Long-Term Care (BOALTC) updated the memo previously issued on March 20, 2020, on COVID-19, Visitation and Long-Term Care Communities which provides important guidance for nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
People who live in our nursing homes, assisted living communities and the staff and caregivers are at highest risk. When a COVID-19 case occurs in a long-term care setting, the potential for rapid spread can be extremely high and life-threatening. Given the growing public health emergency, we are recommending the following, effective immediately:
- Comply with Governor’s Emergency Order #12, “Safer at Home,” and do not leave your long-term care community or your home for anything but essential needs, such as getting groceries and picking up medications. If you are over age 65 or have a chronic health condition, please ask if another person can manage these tasks for you to minimize your time out of your home.
- Do not visit anyone face to face, either in a long-term care setting or outside in the community. Due to recognized spread in long-term care settings and the Safer at Home Order, this now includes not making “window visits” at any nursing home or assisted living community.
- If you are a resident, please stay where you are. When you go into the community you run an increasingly high risk of bringing COVID-19 back into your long-term care home with you, potentially infecting other vulnerable residents and staff.
If you are a resident, please stay where you are. When you go into the community you run an increasingly high risk of bringing COVID-19 back into your long-term care home with you, potentially infecting other vulnerable residents and staff.
Residents still have the right to access the Ombudsman Program with the Board on Aging and Long Term Care by phone at 1-800-815-0015, via e-mail at BOALTC@wisconsin.gov or online at http://longtermcare.wi.gov/.
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