State to allow limited reopening of nursing homes to visitors

Texas officials are allowing nursing homes and assisted living centers, hotspots for COVID-19, to reopen to visitors under limited circumstances, but Austin area families and facility operators say it's too early to open their doors.

Texas Health and Human Services, the state agency that oversees long term care facilities, announced Thursday that facilities can allow visitors for the first time since the pandemic hit in the spring. Some of the reopening requirements for nursing homes, which can only conduct visitations outdoors, include not having any active resident cases, no staff cases in the last two weeks, weekly testing of staff and following of strict protocols.

Assisted living centers, which can have both indoor and outdoor visitations, have more lax requirements by not requiring weekly testing of staff, but instead must use plexiglass barriers during indoor visitations. Compared to nursing homes, residents with less medically fragile conditions live in assisted living facilities.

"This is a rapidly evolving situation and we are constantly assessing what actions are necessary to keep residents and staff safe in these facilities," said agency executive commissioner Phil Wilson in a news release. "By following these procedures and rules, facilities can more effectively prevent the spread of COVID-19 and help us achieve our shared goal of reuniting residents with their families and friends."

State Rep. James Frank of Wichita Falls and Sen. Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham, both Republicans and chairs of their respective chamber's health committees, echoed their support of reopening.

"Access to family and loved ones is an important part of every resident's health and well-being, which is why this policy shift is a move in the right direction for some of our most fragile Texans," Kolkhorst said in the news release.

Nursing homes worry about being able to meet the testing requirements to reopen. Although they support the stringent standards to reopen and the ability for residents to reconnect with their loved ones, facility officials have faced administrative costs, access and delays with testing and obtaining testing results, according to the the Texas Health Care Association, which represents long term care facilities.

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