New stricter requirements on the testing of staff, residents and visitors for COVID-19 at nursing homes and long-term care facilities in New Jersey will be announced today by state officials, according to sources familiar with the order.
The mandates, which will require far more stringent monitoring over the next two weeks, will be unveiled by the governor’s office as the deadly virus has begun a resurgence among the state’s most vulnerable population.
Those familiar with the new rules said the state Department of Health will require enhanced testing of staff, residents, and visitors during that two-week period, starting Monday. Included in the directive:
-Staff is to be tested every other day, or 48 hours after their last shift.
-Residents who leave the facility frequently (such as for regular dialysis treatments), or for more than 24 hours, are tested upon return
-All visitors, apart from emergency responders, are to be tested
![FILE - In this July 17, 2020 file photo, a senior citizen holds the hand of a care coordinator at a Health facility in Miami. Federal health officials on Friday unveiled a plan to get approved coronavirus vaccines to nursing home residents free of cost, with the aid of two national pharmacy chains.
No vaccine has yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and the distribution program is contingent on that happening first. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)](https://www.msn.com/{"default":{"load":"default","w":"80","h":"55","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1a6iyW.img?h=547&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f"},"size3column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"43","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1a6iyW.img?h=427&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f"},"size2column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"43","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1a6iyW.img?h=427&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f"}})