Update Regarding Guidance on Outdoor Visitation and Executive Order 147

Governor Cooper issued Executive Order #147 (“EO 147”) which removed restrictions regarding visitation in adult care homes (“ACH”) effective 5:00 pm on Friday, June 26. Visitation restrictions for adult care homes had been in place since March 25, 2020, for all visitors and non-essential health care personnel, except for certain compassionate care situations, based on language in previous Executive Orders. On June 26, 2020, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (“DHHS”) issued two separate guidance documents partially addressing the removal of ACH restrictions from EO 147:

• Updated Guidance on Outdoor Visitation for Larger Residential Settings (including Adult Care Homes with 7 or more beds); and
• Guidance for Smaller Residential Settings Regarding Visitation, Communal Dining, Group and Outside Activities (settings with 6 or fewer beds).

Following the issuance of EO 147 and the two DHHS guidance documents, NCALA reached out to the leadership of the Adult Care Licensure Section (“ACLS”) to obtain guidance and clarification regarding the lifting of restrictions regarding visitation, communal dining, and group activities in ACHs. Here is a summary of the response NCALA received from ACLS:

• “The Division of Public Health is working on issuing guidance for larger ACH’s for indoor visitation, communal dining, and group activities.”
• “Since there are no longer restrictions, facilities should allow these activities to occur if they can safely do so.”
• Facilities are encouraged to “follow applicable CDC guidance as well as the guidance issued by DHHS for outdoor visitations.”

NCALA encourages ACHs to review and follow the applicable DHHS and CDC guidance, which can be found at: https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/guidance#long-term-care-facilities.

We will provide additional guidance and instructions as they become available. Please reach out to NCALA if you have further questions about this or any other COVID-19 issue.

Sincerely,
North Carolina Assisted Living Association