As COVID-19 cases drop, York and Lancaster nursing homes can allow indoor visitation
Nursing homes in York and Lancaster counties are now required to allow indoor visitation as new coronavirus cases in the two counties continue to fall.
As of Tuesday, all nursing homes in York, Chester and Lancaster reported allowing indoor visitation except for White Oak Manor of York and White Oak of Rock Hill, according to DHEC.
DHEC reported that the two facilities are not allowing visitation “because a new case of COVID-19 among residents or staff has been identified, and the first round of outbreak testing is being conducted.”
S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control officials and Gov. Henry McMaster announced in early March that nursing homes must open indoor visitation immediately.
“Allowing visitation to the greatest degree possible is consistent with safety for residents, staff, and visitors, is extremely important to residents’ mental and physical health and also for their families,” DHEC Director Edward Simmer said. “The updated guidelines will help ensure as many residents as possible can have safe, in-person contact with family and friends.”
However, nursing homes are exempt from this order if the county positive rate of COVID-19 is 10% or higher, which is considered “high” spread, according to a DHEC press release. Other exemptions include having less than 70% of residents fully vaccinated, residents who are in quarantine, or residents who tested positive for COVID-19.
A county’s percentage of positive cases is determined by dividing the number of positive tests by the total number of tests performed in the last two weeks, according to DHEC’s calculation.
At the time of McMaster’s announcement, York and Lancaster were among six other counties that did not qualify to reopen visitation. York County then had a rate of 10.8% and Lancaster County had 10.5%.
Positive rates in both counties now have fallen below the threshold. York County now has a rate of 6.9%. Lancaster County has 4.9%.
Why are cases dropping?
A few weeks ago, DHEC officials said it was too soon to chalk up the state’s dropping coronavirus cases to the vaccine. However, the drop in cases at licensed facilities, such as nursing homes, is showing evidence that the vaccine is helping, Dr. Michael Kacka, a DHEC physician and chief medical officer for COVID-19, said during a call last week.
“We used to see about 10-12 facilities per day with clusters of cases,” he said. “Now, we’re seeing about one to two per week. That makes sense. This was the vulnerable population that was targeted for the vaccine rollout.”
Residents and staff at long-term care facilities were included in South Carolina’s first vaccine distribution phase. The state partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to distribute COVID-19 shots to facilities through its federal Long-Term Care Program. Since late-December, CVS and Walgreens have been holding vaccine clinics at facilities across the state.
To date, 145,600 first and second doses have been administered to residents and staff through the program, according to DHEC.
“It’s a tribute to the fact that the effective vaccine was deployed to the vulnerable population and evidence that it is actually working,” Kacka said.
This story was originally published April 2, 2021 at 10:54 AM.
