The Government tightens restrictions on care homes: unvaccinated visitors will have to take a test
Family members with a full schedule may enter the centers without testing and non-immunized personnel will be screened
BarcelonaThe explosion of contagions has also led to more restrictive measures in homes for the elderly. Unvaccinated people who want to visit their relatives in care homes will have to take an antigen test before visiting the centre. This is one of the measures established by the new protocol drawn up by the departments of Social Rights and Health and to which ACN has had access. The document, however, allows entry without the need for a test for people who can prove that they have a full vaccination schedule or that they have overcome the disease in the last three months. The new measures apply to homes for the elderly and people with disabilities, as well as occupational and day centres.
The protocol, which the Government has already sent to the centres, also establishes that the use of masks is mandatory both indoors and outdoors. In the case of residents, it will only be mandatory if they cannot respect the minimum safety distance of one and a half meters and when leaving the home. Even so, the Generalitat recommends users and visitors wear masks indoors whenever indoors.
Screening of unvaccinated staff
In addition, it is recommended that users who have been in enclosed spaces outside their care homes and have not been vaccinated or have not received both doses should be tested after five, ten and fifteen days. In addition, it insists on the vaccination of these users. There will also be screening "during the coming weeks" and "until the situation improves" of staff who have not been vaccinated or have not received both doses. The new measures have been approved after ten nursing homes in Catalonia were reclassified as "red" due to covid-19 outbreaks.
