Albany, N.Y. (WBEN) - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had good news for families of nursing home residents during his COVID update Monday.
Cuomo announced inside nursing home visitation can begin Friday with strict guidelines in place that are tied to county COVID positivity rates.
In counties where the positivity rate is below five percent, no testing is required but it is encouraged and the visitation would occur inside the facility or in a separate room from the residents' dwelling. In counties where the positivity rate is between five and ten percent, rapid testing is required and in counties where the rate exceeds ten percent, no visitation would be permitted. Additionally, visitations will be permitted if there is no new onset of COVID-19 cases in the last 14 days and the facility is not currently conducting outbreak testing
READ: Complete visitation guidance
Current daily and seven day rolling average positivity rates for Erie County have been below five percent and would allow for visitation under the newly announced guidelines.
The governor said 100% of nursing home staff and residents have been offered the COVID-19 vaccine.
Approximately 73% of all nursing home residents have been vaccinated.
The announcement comes as the Cuomo administration faces mounting criticism over its handling of the pandemic in nursing homes.
Cuomo also announced that as a move toward reopening more in person teaching, the state will be polling school districts statewide to determine how many teachers have been vaccinated. Additionally, Cuomo is seeking the data on how many teachers are currently teaching in classrooms and for how many days per week.
The seven day rolling average COVID positivity rate for Western New York stands at 2.4 percent, according to Cuomo.
