Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced Tuesday June 9th that she was directing the Oregon Department of Human Services and the Oregon Health Authority to develop and implement a comprehensive coronavirus testing plan to protect residents and staff of long-term care facilities.
The first of two phases of the plan will begin to be implemented Wednesday, June 24th, covering more than 680 large, long-term care facilities statewide, which combined provide care for an estimated 31,000 residents and employ 29,000 staff. Beginning Wednesday June 24th, every facility will be required to test all staff and offer testing to all residents.
Governor Brown also ordered the program to focus on facilities at highest risk first as well as calling for testing services to be provided in a linguistically and culturally sensitive manner.
After spikes in northern Oregon counties, residents and staff at nursing facilities in Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, Yamhill, Marion and Polk counties will be prioritized as these counties account for the majority of outbreaks in long-term care facilities.
Testing will then commence at assisted living and residential care facilities with memory care units in those counties, followed by facilities without memory care. This same sequence will then roll out in other counties statewide.
In the second phase, facilities will develop and implement plans for ongoing monitoring. Plans will detail how they will monitor and test residents and staff, including testing all staff at least once per month. Plans will be approved by the Department of Human Services Office of Aging and People with Disabilities, with implementation required to begin within 30 days of completing the first round of testing.
Long-term care facilities will be required to report results to their local public health authority and the Department of Human Services Office of Aging and People with Disabilities. Facility staff participation is required; residents who decline a test, and are symptomatic, will need to be quarantined.
Statewide testing in long-term care is an essential first step that will allow the state to examine how visitation policies can be safely and incrementally eased.