Huiwen Xu, John R Bowblis, Shuang Li, Jennifer Heston-Mullins, Yong-Fang Kuo, James S Goodwin
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Visitation restrictions in nursing homes were a major policy intervention in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study conducted a systematic review of the changes in federal and state visitation policies. After the federal recommendations restricting all visitors and non-essential healthcare personnel, 31 states implemented state-wide indoor visitation bans in March and April of 2020. Federal guidance changed in September 2020 and again after the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines in early 2021. State visitation bans were lifted from 6/15/2020 to 11/2/2020, lasting an average of 163 days. When lifting bans, most states required that nursing homes have no resident COVID-19 cases and implement mitigation measures during the visit. Resident COVID-19 infection rates decreased by an average of 7.2 cases per 10,000 residents per week in the six weeks before state bans were lifted (p = .003). Large variations in state bans call for more consistent policy implementation in a future pandemic.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Applied Gerontology (JAG) is the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society. It features articles that focus on research applications intended to improve the quality of life of older persons or to enhance our understanding of age-related issues that will eventually lead to such outcomes. We construe application broadly and encourage contributions across a range of applications toward those foci, including interventions, methodology, policy, and theory. Manuscripts from all disciplines represented in gerontology are welcome. Because the circulation and intended audience of JAG is global, contributions from international authors are encouraged.