September 13, 2021

The second week of outbreak testing has been completed as of this past weekend.  There were no new positive employee or resident results.  We have resumed communal dining, group activities, and visitation as previous.    Everyone must continue to screen in and out of the building and no one is permitted inside if presenting with symptoms.  Staff are required to continue wearing eye protection and surgical masks throughout their shifts when working.  

The county positivity rate increased from 10.2% last week to 11.1% this week, meaning, under current Department of Human Services guidance, we are now required to test all unvaccinated staff weekly.  We will continue routine weekly testing of unvaccinated employees in accordance with the guidance beginning this Friday.

For your information; CMS issued new guidance to nursing home providers today regarding outbreak, high-exposure, and routine testing requirements.  The new guidance now makes frequency of routine testing of unvaccinated contingent on the county level of community transmissions instead of the county positivity ratings. Community transmission ratings address the extent of the virus in the community.  The testing level triggers for community transmission based routine testing are identified as Low (blue), Moderate (yellow), Substantial (orange) and High (red).    For counties in blue, testing is not recommended, yellow, testing is recommended weekly, substantial, twice a week, and red, twice a week.  Under this new guidance, there is no change to our routine testing practices since York County is in a Red Level for community transmission.  It is unclear if Department of Human Services, which oversees Personal Care and Assisted Living Facilities, will change its testing guidance to reflect the new update from CMS. They have typically tended to follow the guidance issued by the PA Department of Health, which follows CMS direction, for most of the pandemic. I will keep you updated of any new changes that might affect testing status so that you are fully aware of why we are doing what we are doing.  I am in the process of updating our current policies to reflect the new guidance.  

I know this information can be confusing and overwhelming, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.


Sharon Eyster, MA, ACBSW, CNHA, FACHCA

Director of Operations, Wilmac Corporation

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