CINCINNATI — As COVID-19 cases fall in Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine said nursing homes could start allowing visitations if they meet federal criteria.
The criteria nursing homes must meet is established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
One of their main criteria states that visitations are allowed at a facility if no new COVID-19 cases have been detected in 14 days.
Other criteria include if the county positivity rate is at or less than 10% and if the facility is not conducting outbreak testing at the time.
However, compassionate care visits are permitted despite the other criteria. Compassionate care visits include when a patient is dying or when a patient is not adapting to the care facility.
"We know that the COVID-19 health emergency has been very difficult on residents of long term care facilities," Ursel McElroy, the director of the Ohio Department of Aging, said. "No matter what the visitation situation is at a nursing home, compassionate care visits can be allowed."
To find out your county positivity rate is low enough to allow nursing home visits, you can visit the Ohio Department of Health's dashboard here.
