The state will require stricter virus testing and mitigation practices inside residential care facilities because of the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19.
Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment on Friday afternoon announced a series of new guidelines for those facilities, which call for daily rapid testing of unvaccinated staff members, plus testing of any residents who have left their respective facility in the past two weeks.
The guidelines also call for the immediate suspension of in-person visitation when one or more positive cases are identified.
“Residential care and nursing home communities have been on the frontline of mitigating COVID-19 throughout the pandemic and these added infection prevention measures will help us combat variants of concern and rising cases when they occur,” said Randy Kuykendall, who directs the Health Facilities and EMS Division of the state health department.
“Adding rapid testing of unvaccinated staff at the beginning of each shift will help us identify and stop the spread of the disease early. That detection is key to the continued health and safety of our residential care facility residents.”
