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12/31/2020

Today's COVID-19 Report: Thursday, December 31, 2020

Thursday, December 31, 2020

Here are the latest need-to-know updates for Thursday, December 31, 2020 regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Wishing a blessed and happy new year to all! 

A REMINDER TO ALL MEMBERS

Check LeadingAge's FAQs and Resources on COVID-19 Vaccines and Issues Surrounding Vaccinations frequently. The most recent update includes Q&A on implications of mandating the vaccine for staff.
The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) has released a preliminary toolkit that has been developed with talking points, language tips, social media language, and trusted resources to help you better communicate about the safe, effective COVID-19 vaccines that have arrived in Ohio.

In Today's Report

Today is the Residential Care Facility COVID-19 testing opt-in/opt-out deadline

The deadline to complete the residential care facility opt-in/opt-out survey is today. Updates to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Guidelines for the testing of the residents and staff of all residential care facilities became effective December 21, 2020. Facilities are to initially complete the “Residential Care Facility COVID-19 Testing Opt-In/Opt-Out (Expansion) Survey” by 11:59PM on December 31, 2020 and each month thereafter if level of state-support warrants modification. Effective August 24, 2020 at 12:01AM, all residential care facilities (RCF) are subject to the ODH Director's Order and Guidelines. Ohio Department of Aging (ODA) FAQ’s on residential care facility testing can be found here. ODA's contact information for testing questions is COVIDTesting@age.ohio.gov.

Nursing Home COVID-19 testing opt-in/opt-out deadline is January 3

Nursing home opt-in/opt-out survey reopened on December 28, 2020 and will remain open until January 3, 2021. Effective December 21, 2020, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) guidelines and state testing support systems will require semi-weekly testing of all staff and strategic testing of residents. 

In support of these new guidelines, the state-supported testing program has expanded to support semi-weekly testing, including three testing options to "Opt-In" with: antigen only, PCR only, or alternating antigen and PCR.  Note: By choosing state-supported testing, the facility is fully committing to utilize ALL components of the program (applicable to your testing option), which may include: test supplies, test schedule, assigned labs, and courier services. If the facility is not fully committing to utilize ALL components (applicable to your testing option), the facility should opt-out of the state-supported testing.

Facilities that have previously completed this survey will only need to complete this survey if changes are needed to the facility's current testing option.  If no changes are needed, you are not required to complete this survey.  Your current testing option will be renewed for the next testing cycle of January 18, 2021 - February 12, 2021. 

Effective May 27, 2020 at 11:59PM, all nursing home facilities are subject to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Director's Order and Guidelines. Additional information about testing requirements for nursing homes can be found here. Ohio Department of Aging (ODA) FAQ’s on nursing home testing can be found here. Ohio Department of Aging’s contact information for testing questions is COVIDTesting@age.ohio.gov.

Join LeadingAge and special guests on Monday

Surgeon General Jerome Adams will join the first LeadingAge Update call of the year on Monday, January 4 at 3:30PM. Dr. Adams will discuss vaccine development – what we can expect in the coming days, weeks and months. Dr. Adams will also talk about what’s going on with the surge and what it means for our health care system and especially for aging services providers. He will also address health care disparities, including how they play out with this pandemic and the importance of talking about this very real issue….what does it mean for vaccine acceptance? Jim Love, CVS/Omnicare CEO will also stop by to talk about what the company is doing to address early communication problems in the Pharmacy Partnership. If you haven’t signed up for update calls, you can sign up to join the call here.

Toolkit for HUD section 202 providers in the CDC Pharmacy Partnership for Long Term Care Program

On Wednesday, LeadingAge published a toolkit for Section 202 housing providers participating in the Pharmacy Partnership, based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) vaccine toolkit for Long-Term Care communities. The toolkit provides sample communications to residents about vaccine clinics, including a sample resident letter and survey, communication tips, and posters and stickers.

                Linkage Connect                         Buerger

Questions

Please send all questions to COVID19@leadingageohio.org. Additionally, members are encouraged to visit the LeadingAge Ohio COVID-19 Working Group facebook group to pose questions to peers and share best practices. LeadingAge is continuing its daily calls for all members.  To participate in these daily online updates, members should register here.  

LeadingAge Ohio is working to ensure that the information in our daily alerts, on our website, and all coronavirus-related communications is as accurate as possible. However, LeadingAge Ohio makes no guarantees about the accuracy of the information. 

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